Tom Wesselman

Happy Birthday Tom Wesselman!! Born in 1931, Tom Wesselman was an American Pop artist although he did not care for the label claiming he made aesthetic use of everyday objects rather that satirizing them. He concentrated on painting, found object collage and sculpture. The collage below entitled Still Life #20 was created in 1962. Note the reproduction of a Piet Mondrian painting hanging on the kitchen wall behind the table.

Pop Art developed just after World War II, making use of commonplace objects and items from everyday life. The artifacts of the masses are just as valid, if not more so, as “Fine Art” subjects. The reproduction of the art (comic strips, soup cans, etc.) of the popular culture was a commentary on the taste and ideals of the public. Some artists used materials from the environment in assemblage and collage; others used bright, vibrant colors in their expression of the world in which we live.