As you all know (and if you don’t, where have you been?!), Pop Masters: Art from the Mugrabi Collection, New York is coming to HOTA in February 2023. With the launch of the exhibition comes one very commonly asked question... what actually is Pop Art?  

So! We sat down with the exhibition’s curators, our very own Gallery Director Tracy Cooper-Lavery and Head of Curatorial and Programs Bradley Vincent to give us the answers we’re all looking for.  

To keep it short, sharp and sweet, what is Pop Art? 

Pop Art is larger than life. Often witty, sometimes banal, and always insightful, it comments on commercial and popular culture by reimagining the world around us. It transforms the everyday into the extraordinary. 

In the words of artist Richard Hamilton (1957), Pop Art is: Popular (designed for a mass audience), Transient (Short-term solution), Expendable (easily forgotten), Low Cost, Mass Produced, Young (aimed at youth), Witty, Sexy, Gimmicky, Glamorous, Big Business.  

When did Pop Art originate?  

The emergence of Pop Art in the late 1950s in the United States and Great Britain turned the art world on its head and encouraged a radical change to the entire idea of what art is and what artists can do. It captures feelings and perceptions stirring more broadly in society, transforming the everyday into the extraordinary. Artists turned to Hollywood movies, advertising, product packaging, pop music and comic books for their inspiration. It’s this democratic levelling and the blurred lines between preconceptions of ‘high’ and ‘low’ art that makes Pop so fascinating, familiar and fresh.   

Throughout the next three decades, the Pop Art movement developed and expanded, with artist contributions from different cultures and countries. The world began to know the names Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, just to name a few.  

These iconic legends of Pop Art drew their inspirations from their everyday lives, by challenging traditional media and shaping an art form that would live for generations to come.  

What can we expect to see at the Pop Masters exhibition?  

In the spirit of Pop Art, this exhibition is adventurous and shamelessly bold. With culture-defining names and iconic artworks, Pop Masters invites audiences to unpack the creative crossroads between art and life. From pill-filled medicine cabinets to giant peanut butter cups, from Jackie Kennedy and Sylvester Stallone to the modern day insta-famous, from ‘Great American Nudes’ to iconic dancing dogs, the exhibition is an adventure through a larger-than-life Pop world. 

A key vision in the design and creative program for HOTA Gallery is the presentation of international exhibitions. And what better way to launch this ambitious program than with an international blockbuster exhibition that reflects who we are as a post-modern city: unashamedly glitzy, glamorous and drenched in pop culture. 

Want to experience the world through the lens of Pop Art? Then join us for Pop Masters – be a part of something extraordinary.