Framed Fashion Pop Prints
Since pop art is very concerned with the happenings of the moment, fashion is a popular subject for this style. For a snapshot of a particular time in a culture, it is hard to beat framed fashion pop art. Fashion changes on a seasonal basis, and pop art deals with a culture’s more transient elements, so the relationship is practically symbiotic.
There are many parallels between fashion and pop art, and both spheres communicated often with each other. It is only natural, then, that Andy Warhol should include framed fashion art on canvas among his output in works like 1974’s “Yves Saint Laurent.” Saint Laurent was an art lover who once turned a Piet Mondrian painting into a dress. Warhol was also asked by well-known fashion designer Halston to create some of his advertising campaigns.
The close association shown in framed fashion pop art pieces was not always a happy one, however. In 1967 Martha Rosler juxtaposed images from high fashion magazines with violent photos from the Vietnam War, which was raging at that time. Her series “House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home” is a critique of how consumer culture can sometimes be used to numb people to the horrors of war. Cindy Sherman is another artist who uses fashion and pop art to critique consumer culture.
Artists continue to make framed fashion pop art paintings today. Works such as “Dress Form (Green)” by Paperplate Inc. might remind viewers of classics such as Yves Klein’s “Blue Venus.” “The Future’s So Bright” by Danny Phillips uses the bold, contrasting color schemes and a collage-influenced style seen in many pop art pieces.