Taking Inspiration from Modern Art

The Pop Art movement turned the art world on its head, and produced some remarkable pieces that stand shoulder to shoulder with Van Gogh’s The Starry Night or Picasso’s Guernica. So called because the style incorporated symbols from popular culture, Pop Art removed them from their original context and re-worked them in a new eye-catching style. Interest in the movement has remained strong, with exhibitions still taking place globally. Until January 2016, the Tate Modern is displaying an exclusive collection of Pop Art from around the world.

Harry Dhaliwal prides himself on the affordable, but high quality properties that his company First Step develops. In searching for ideas for new property ventures, he often visits art exhibitions, finding inspiration in some of the world’s most iconic artwork.

As an inspiration for designing a modern space, Pop Art would be ideal – examining the real beauty behind adverts, posters and branding that pervades everyday life. If anything, the abundance of advertising in the 21^st Century further blurs the boundary between life and art.

The World Goes Pop

Following the original movement that started in Britain and the US towards the end of the 1950s, Pop Art influenced many more artists from around the world to seek out images in their respective cultures as stimulus to create pieces of work in this new style. The exhibition running at the Tate Modern focusses on how Warhol’s oversized Campbell’s soup can sent shockwaves to the other side of the globe and everywhere else in between.

In exploring Pop Art from around the world, this exhibition highlights the fact that the movement was more than just an expression of consumerism but a subversion and protestation against individual cultures and politics. From the Middle East to Asia, Europe and Latin America, Pop Art was accepted in all four corners of the globe and the World Goes Pop exhibition brings the lot together in a carefully curated experience.

Celebrating Women in Art

Another aspect of the Tate’s exhibition is that not only are other cultures widely represented but so too are the female artists that are often overlooked in the Pop Art canon. Martha Rosler and Judy Chicago find a place in the folk pop section, examining the female form through the medium that defined a generation of art.

A universal language, art has always crossed cultural borders. Now visitors to the Tate Modern can see how Pop Art’s message has been received and interpreted around the world.