For the Finest Furry Art, Try Pop

[Sun-stone]

"It is the Playboy 'Playmate of the month' pull-out pin-up which
provides us with the closest contemporary equivalent of the odalisque in
painting. Automobile body stylists have absorbed the symbolism of the
space age more successfully than any artist. Social comment is left to
TV and comic strip. Epic has become synonymous with a certain kind of
film and the heroic archetype is now buried deep in movie lore. If the
artist is not to lose much of his ancient purpose he may have to plunder
the popular arts to recover the imagery which is his rightful
inheritance."
"For the Finest Art, Try Pop", Richard Hamilton

Mr. Hamilton belonged to an art movement called "Pop". For those who
don't know, Pop Art was a reaction to the abstract art that had been
dominating the art scene in the decade and a half before that time. Some
of the artists in this field, aside from Hamilton, included David
Hockney, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and James Rosenquist. What these
artists did was look to the commonplace, the commercial, even the banal
in search of subject matter. Lichtenstein did paintings based on comics
panels; Warhol did soup cans, Hockney swimming pools, etc.

I've been wondering how much this movement has influenced furry art. I
don't think that most furry art is very abstract, and it is heavily
influenced by popular culture. Are we forced by a lack of much useable
tradition to look to popular arts for inspiration? And is "furry" taking
its place among the popular arts? (let's hope ^_^)

Also, a lot of art here is disseminated through prints and lithographs,
much like Pop Art. Many works in both areas are pin-ups. There is a
desire to celebrate the commonplace, and the natural; however, in both
cases there is often a heavy degree of irony or a tongue-in-cheek
quality. The pop artists were really the first to produce commercial
artistic erotica, and there was a strong counter-culture movement
(Warhol's Factory scene was one of the more sexually ambiguous and "out"
places yet seen in post war America).

I'm interested in this, but I haven't really thought this through enough
to take it anywhere. Anyone else have any insights?

Cheers;
J. J., pop puma

[Sun-stone]

Sun-stone wrote:

::lotsa arty stuff snipped::

Mental note --> art history + furry != inspiring post.

Better luck next time cat ;)

Cheers;
J. J., popped puma