Richard Hamilton: Painter and collagist widely regarded as the creator of Pop Art.
Article from http://www.independent.co.uk
Although Richard Hamilton never achieved the celebrity of Andy Warhol or Damien Hirst he had a major impact on modern art, influencing them and many others after earning for himself the title of the father of Pop Art. There was more to him than that, though: in his long career he indulged in many different themes, producing work which was displayed over decades in innumerable exhibitions. His development took him through painting to printmaking, sculpture to typography and collage.
Hamilton was often socially subversive, most famously with his collage, the brilliantly titled “Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing?”
Made up mostly of cuttings from magazines, its theme was American consumer culture. It featured a male bodybuilder and a naked woman in the incongruous setting of a living room, surrounded by posters and household appliances in what was described as “a semi-ironic look at the mass-market imagery of the post-war age.” Such techniques would later come to be regarded as commonplace, but its novelty meant it was hailed as “the first genuine work of pop.”
