Note Set 6

Pop Art is art based onsubjects found in Popular Culture.

Lichtenstein was a member of the Pop Art movement.Many of Lichtenstein’s images were based on comic books.

Lichtenstein is known for his large pieces imitating the

Benday Dot printing method.

The Benday Dot printing method was namedafter a famous printer and illustrator namedBenjamin Day.

This is his father, Benjamin Day Sr. whowas a famous 19th century printer.

Benday dots were developed as a way to create different values in a blackand white image. Value is controlled by the size of the dots and how farapart they are spaced.

This method was then used in the printing of comic books. Printers could save money by using a limited number of colors of ink. By printing dots of the different colors, they could create different colors and values by controlling what colors were printed next to each other and how much of the white space was left to show through

Lichtenstein imitated this method to create his large works.

This is an example of a sheet prepared to create Benday Dots.

The sheet is put down on the painting surface and is painted over. Thesheet is then pealed away leaving a pattern of painted dots.

Another pop artist isAndy Warhol

His studio was called the factory.

He was fascinated by fame and the fantasy world of celebrities. His studiowas a place where famous people from all areas would go.

He felt that stars began to be viewed more as a product than a person.

He believed that the more we see images the more we become desensitized to them.

Warhol was also fascinated by how culture was shifting to a mass producedconsumer society. He saw how commercialism was effecting peoples’ perception of our culture. He began creating images of cultural icons. Cultural icons are imagesthat represent the perceived ideals or norms of a culture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wogKeYH2wEE&feature=related

Click here to watch how the screen printing process works.

Warhol used the screen printingprocess to create this massproduced look.

Another form of printing that is used by artists is 4 color process printing. There are 4 colors used in the 4-color printing process- cyan, magenta, yellow,

black.This is called CMYK printing. To achieve various colors, different combinations of these four colors are used.

The CMYK model works by partially or entirely masking colors on a lighter, usually white, background. The ink reduces the light that would otherwise be reflected. Such a model is called subtractive because inks “subtract” brightness from white.

Lichtenstein in his studio.