Please answer each question below with minimum 2-3 full paragraphs to cover the sub-points as well. APA citations and references required.

Answers should be commentary—not exposition.

Please be attentive to the 80/20 rule regarding the use of outside sources. (No more than 20% of any post may be comprised of outside source material—this includes material that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.)

1-What were some of the influences of the pop art phenomenon? Should we consider the creative elements of popular culture, which are very often mass produced works of art?

2-Pop Art is a broad subject encompassing a great variety of genres and styles. It has been heralded, maligned, praised, and roundly criticized. Whether one is or is not an aficionado of this eclectic brand of creativity and style, one nevertheless has to admit that conversations about Pop Art are never lacking for passion.Before we get knee-deep in the hoopla of our discussion, take a look at the following website as it provides a fairly comprehensive look at the Pop Art phenomenon:

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/pop_art.html

• Based on above site, what would you say were the influences of the Pop Art movement? In other words, who and what influenced the artists?

3-As we've acknowledged, Pop Art often evokes harsh criticism, being dismissed as merely decorative (at best) to gimmicky and trashy (by its harshest critics); nevertheless, Pop Art is not alone in garnering a poor critical reception.Many "accepted" works of art and styles of art have been criticized when they were first introduced. Think about Impressionism, for example, and the discussion that we had about it. Critics hated Impressionism when it was first introduced. In fact, the name "Impressionism" was meant by a critic as a derogatory term when he was referring to Monet's first Impressionistic painting "Impression: Sunrise." If you go back and read quotes from critics, you will find many negative comments. A few hundred years later, the Impressionists are revered and respected.

• Is it not possible that the same could be true for Pop Art?
• Why do you think artistic movements like Impressionism and Pop Art garner such harsh initial criticism? What makes it possible for such art to grow in esteem and eventually become accepted and even "respectable?"