Employing imagery from mass culture, pop art movement challenged elitist art while emphasizing the banality of culture. It moved to become more than just an art movement, as a wide array of mainstream culture from art, design, architecture and music began to employ its style.
Street art, a term that gained popularity during the graffiti boom of the early 1980’s, is now a popular genre in contemporary art. Artists take on social and political issues by actively communicating with the general public gaining attraction through their unique styles and what some call art provocation.
For this exhibition, Opera Gallery has collected works from the most internationally renowned pop and street artists, including Mari Kim, Mr. Brainwash, Joe Black, David Mach, Kwon Kisoo, Julian Opie, Patrick Rubinstein among others. Is street art following in the footsteps of pop art, rendering their belonging on the ivory walls of branded establishments? This exhibition will possibly provide an appropriate reference point for such questioning for us Seoulites.