The term "Arabic pop art" was coined by Khalil Rabah in 2001. Rabah is a Palestinian artist, curator, and art historian who lives and works in Ramallah.
Arabic Pop Art: Reclaiming the Arab Narrative
In the article "", the term "Arabic pop art" is used to describe the work of Arab artists who are reclaiming the Arab narrative. The term was coined by Lebanese artist Walid Raad, who is credited with being the first Arab artist to use pop art to reclaim the Arab narrative. Raad's work often uses irony and humor to critiue the art market and the Western world's view of the Arab world.
Who coined the term pop art?
In the 1950s, a number of artists started experimenting with the new medium of pop art. Among them was Richard Hamilton, who is often credited with coining the term “pop art”.
Hamilton’s interest in popular culture was sparked by American artist Edward Hopper’s painting Nighthawks (1942), which depicts four people in a diner late at night. Hamilton was struck by the way Hopper had captured the banality of everyday life in a work of art.
He started to experiment with incorporating elements of popular culture into his own work, and in 1956 he created the collage Just What Is It that Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?
The work, which is often seen as a satire on the consumer culture of the 1950s, features images of a muscle-bound man in a wife-beater vest and a blonde woman in a bikini, surrounded by consumer goods.
The term “pop art” was first used by British art critic Lawrence Alloway in a 1958 article about Hamilton’s work. However, it was American artist and critic Harold Rosenberg who really brought the term into the mainstream with his article “The American Action Painters”, published in the same year.
In it, Rosenberg described pop art as “a direct expression of an inner need”. He saw it as a reaction against the Abstract Expressionism of the previous decade, which he felt was too intellectual and removed from the everyday experience of most people.
Pop art went on to become one of the defining styles of the 1960s, and Hamilton’s work is still seen as a key early example of the genre.
POP ART Meaning in Arabic
In the early 21st century, the term “Arabic pop art” was coined to describe the work of a group of artists who were influenced by both Arabic and Western cultures. These artists often incorporated Arabic calligraphy and imagery into their work, as well as Western pop culture references. Arabic pop art often has a political or social message, and many artists use it to comment on current events. The term “Arabic pop art” is not limited to any one country or region, but is used to describe the work of artists from all over the Arab world.
