Richard Hamilton also known as “Daddy Pop” was one of the biggest influences on the pop art movement in Britain in the late 1950s. I was drawn to Hamilton for his bold use of collage and imagery sourced by American lifestyle and advertising magazines. Hamilton creates parodies of the perfect American life and how quickly they got over the war compared to Britain.
Hamilton wanted to show the obsession Americans had with materialism, the subject matter in Hamilton’s was often irregular selections of household Objects cluttered in one room. By using the big-name brands in his work, Hamilton shown what living in Britain was like after the war during the hype of consumerism. Hamilton’s work was very, He was influenced by the dada movement, which originated during the first world war in Europe showing the horror and destruction it left behind, the movement was the starting point of surrealism in the 1920s.
Hamilton was known for his bold use of collage; he was the first person to collage digitally through the BBC. Hamilton used a selection of cut outs from magazines and layered the on top of each other to create the effect of a living space. Hamilton used a mixture of monochromatic images and coloured cut outs. Using the black and white image in his work give his art a sense of timelessness as they haven’t been touched and are precious. Hamilton’s work wants always taken well. At that time is want common to see such provocative imagery of a woman s during the 60s there was a burst of sophistication. Hamilton wanted to make a scene, he wanted people to talk about his work.
I am really inspired by Hamilton’s work. Through his combination of photography, collage and text I think he creates something really visually interesting and powerful. Hamilton uses farce and dark humour to se the sense of what living in Britain was really like which really opens your yes. I think his work is really important and I would love to explore the use of collage further taking inspiration from Hamilton and the dada movement.
http://www.hamilton-richard.com/
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