Consumerism in Pop Art: Was It Celebrated or Criticized?

Pop Art is known for taking an ambivalent stance towards consumerism since one can detect both affirmation and critique of the consumer-driven culture in the artworks of the leading Pop artists. Artists drew inspiration from everyday products, celebrities, and advertisements. In that way, they certainly embraced and accepted consumerist imagery. A critical dimension of Pop Art’s engagement with consumerism is also evident in the manner Pop artists approached rapidly developing materialism in both social and cultural dimensions.

Pop Art is an art movement that began in the United Kingdom in the mid-1950s. It reached its peak in the 1960s on American soil and it ended in the late 1970s when minimalism took over the art world. Some of the leading American Pop artists include Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, Claes Oldenburg, and Tom Wesselmann. Even though each one of these artists had their own artistic approach and style, what they had in common was drawing inspiration from everyday experience and popular culture.

By appropriating imagery and visual language from advertisements, celebrity culture, mass-produced goods, television, film, comic books, and posters, Pop artists blurred the line between high and low art. Therefore, they democratized art, making it accessible to the general public. Pop artists’ interest in consumer culture also led to the rephrasing of the notion of art. In a way, art was subjected to a process of commodification. Pop artists incorporated consumerist imagery into their works and their works were then transformed into commodities themselves within the art market. Therefore, art became a product that could be bought, sold, and consumed like any other object.

The 1964 exhibition The American Supermarket at the Bianchini Gallery in New York serves as a telling example. The space of the gallery was altered, so it resembled a supermarket with its essentials such as shelves, refrigerators, and shopping carts. Only the exhibited goods were the actual artwork of prominent Pop artists like Robert Watts, Tom Wesselmann, Claes Oldenburg, Jasper Johns, Richard Artschwager, and Andy Warhol. They exhibited and sold fake goods such as chrome and wax eggs, velour-covered fruit and vegetables, as well as Campbell’s Soup tins. Artists also signed their work which just further contributed to their investigation of the intersection between trading, branding, and art.

The development of consumerism was significantly boosted by the Industrial Revolution, which occurred in the 18th and 19th Century. The mass production of consumer goods and their increased availability in booming department stores contributed to the making of a consumer-driven society, especially in the United States. During the second half of the 20th century, people began to consume at a much higher rate than before, since the acquisition of an astounding variety of products was interpreted as the equivalent of living a fulfilled and happy life. The essential idea underlying consumerism is that one always needs more and, therefore, should always buy more.

In mid-20th century America, consumerism adopted a form of a lifestyle where consumption was perceived as a desirable leisure activity. The notion of the American dream became increasingly important during the Great Depression. Writer and historian James Truslow Adams Popularized the term in his 1931 book The Epic of America in which he described it as a “dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” He continued: “It is not a dream of motorcars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable.”

Nevertheless, as the U.S. economy began to recover after World War II, the American dream became associated with the acts of consumption, which were perceived as the benefits of capitalism. Therefore, the concept of the American dream relied on consumerism as the ideal modus vivendi of the American people. Not surprisingly, the zeitgeist of the 1960s, when the ideas of materialism and consumerism were promoted via mass media, inevitably affected and influenced Pop artists and their work.

Andy Warhol is known for his fascination with the consumer and celebrity culture. By multiplying images of products such as Coca-Cola bottles and Campbell’s Soup cans, as well as images of public figures like Marilyn Monroe, Warhol alluded to the mass production process. The repetitiveness of his motifs actually refers to the industrial processes, since Warhol was captivated by the mechanical nature of production. Famous for his frequent quotes about wanting to become a machine himself, Warhol celebrated the abundance and variety of available consumer goods on the market.

Warhol was aware of the fact that mass media played a considerable part in the dehumanization and depersonalization of celebrities. By constantly prying and reporting about the personal lives of public figures, the media equated a person with a commodity. Marilyn Monroe’s persona was just another product waiting to be consumed. In a way, there was no difference between her and a bottle of Coca-Cola.

Warhol also produced a well-timed reaction to the capitalist mindset that began to penetrate the art field. He understood that financial gain was the goal when creating artwork. He famously said that being good in business was the most fascinating kind of art. This summarizes Warhol’s business-like approach to art. In order to make a profit, the artist had to acquire the position of a merchant. For that reason, Warhol created an eccentric persona with a trademark look featuring blond hair and large eyewear. Warhol also anticipated the importance of publicizing one’s private life (which nowadays takes form in social media platforms). He documented his everyday life through a camera. In that way, he transformed his own public image into a designer brand present in the mass media, ready to be consumed.

James Rosenquist gained experience while working in the advertising industry, an influence that is reflected in his career as an artist. Bold and vibrant color palette, appropriation of consumerist imagery, and large-scale canvases are the predominant characteristics of Rosenquist’s art. A prime example is his monumental painting F-111, which was originally exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York in 1965. The work consists of 23 sections and it occupies four walls of the gallery, thus overwhelmingly engulfing the viewer.

In this artwork, Rosenquist juxtaposed the symbols of the American dream with the reality of the American sociopolitical environment. He portrayed the glossy aspect of consumerism and the ampleness of capitalism. Firstly, Rosenquist depicted a fighter-bomber warplane F-111, which was the newest technologically advanced weapon used in the Vietnam War. Secondly, objects such as spaghetti, cake, light bulbs, and beach umbrellas emphasized the opulence of American society where consumer goods were bountiful and easily accessible thanks to technological, economic, and industrial progress. Finally, an image of a smiling little girl, placed amid a political and consumerist context, conveys a message that happiness stems from material possessions, consumerism, and success in war.

Nonetheless, James Rosenquist expressed his critical view of the sociopolitical situation present in the United States. By amplifying the bright consumer imagery, Rosenquist succeeded in highlighting the complicit role of American society in the military-industrial complex. Rosenquist said that he did not like the idea of paying taxes for obsolete war weapons and that this was on his mind when he started to think about F-111. This illustrates his stance towards the U.S. military operation in Vietnam. Therefore, in his work F-111 he directly confronted the public with its own responsibility regarding the funding of the war.

The Store is Claes Oldenburg’s 1961 art installation. The artist filled The Store with plaster-covered muslin sculptures painted in strong colors. The surfaces were smoothed by the glossy paint, while the form was to some degree misshapen, flaccid, and melted. His store consisted of items that one could normally see in regular stores, only his products were neither edible nor usable.

Oldenburg intentionally commercialized his store by creating business cards and posters in order to further promote and advertise his shop. In that way, he boldly and directly questioned the correlation between art and commodity, galleries and shops, and artists and brands. Oldenburg chose to depict a store (the focal point of consumerism) since he acknowledged it as one of the most recognizable capitalist symbols. The free market mindset also began to infiltrate art, so artists found themselves in new roles. They were expected not only to advertise their work but also to invest in their self-promotion. Therefore, Oldenburg’s Store can be interpreted as a criticism of the commodification of art.

His critical tone is evident in the way he sculpted his work. Unlike Pop artist Wayne Thiebaud’s depictions of food that are quite literally mouthwatering, Oldenburg offers us comestibles that do not look as appetizing. His pies seem stale, his ice creams lack freshness, and his candied apples are dried out and hardened. The fact that nothing is tempting about his pastries provokes an ambivalent reaction. Usually, when confronted with delicacies, a person has a positive reaction, but Oldenburg’s food creates the opposite effect. Therefore, The Store comes as a result of Claes Oldenburg’s critique of the consumer-driven Western world where the philosophy of consumption invaded each pore of society.

Pop artists developed a complex relationship with consumerism, capitalism, and consumption, often oscillating between celebration and critique. They embraced the imagery and aesthetics of consumer culture by incorporating mass-produced objects and advertising iconography into their works. Artists of course gladly welcomed the economic growth after World War II, especially after the Great Depression took such a heavy toll on American society. Focusing on the imagery of this economic growth, Warhol famously elevated everyday items such as soup cans into art. He investigated the allure of consumer goods, the impact of brands, and the influence of mass media.

However, alongside this celebration, Pop artists have also offered incisive critiques of the excessive consumption and dehumanization that came with consumerism and capitalism. James Rosenquist expressed his condemnation of the American economy that financed the Vietnam War, while Claes Oldenburg protested against the commodification of art.

Therefore, it becomes clear that Pop artists did not have an unequivocal approach towards consumerism. In a way, they succeeded in balancing between fascination and disillusionment when it comes to consumption and capitalism.

Ultimately, there is no one singular answer to whether or not Pop artists celebrated consumer culture. It would be better to say that they took up the role of commentators on social, cultural, and political reality. By portraying what they observed in society, Pop artists reflected the multi-sided nature of consumerism and its relationship with the public. Sometimes those observations were affirmative, while at other times they were negative and critical, highlighting the downsides of consumerism.