Wylie Team 8: Trent Kajikawa, Daphne Liu, WIlson Muller, Naomi Krieger

During the Modern Era of post World War II, New York became the new art capital of the world which formerly was in Paris. In the United States abstract expressionism movement took over displaying defiance, disorder, and individualism. Jackson Pollock defied society with his unique style which led a new type of turn in the art world. He made other forms of art rather than sticking to the easel and paint illustrating to other artists that art is not limited. Further, action painting describes the creativity of painters with different arm movements such as throwing painting splashing paint onto canvas. Action painting mirrored peoples need to try new things in out-of-the-box ways in addition to showing self-expression in whatever manner they pleased rather than the strict regulations that were implemented during World War II. In Europe COBRA, an innovative and unique movement was developed showing bright colors, intense strokes, and contorted displays of man. COBRA art styles were similar to the action painting in the United States. Moreover, pop art was established in Britain using references to culture. Through labels and advertisements it spread quickly contrasting different and sometimes unrelated subjects. The United States quickly adopted pop art often to slyly express irony in romance in everyday products which were mass produced. Artists in the 40’s and 50’s were rebellious and attempted to differentiate themselves from one another rather than the uniformity between artists in past Eras.