streets and being on the street was a battle they were willing to fight. They learnt from pioneers and forerunners, who had become their masters, and combined Pop Art with the ideas of Graffiti. They aimed at gaining enough power of ideas by often repeating images with a social message. Their final purpose was to interact with people. Having their own works exhibited in a gallery was often just a dream.
“What is left to say?” New Pop Art developed, spreading more and more the idea of a Readymade as a base for the final product and drawing full from contemporary cultural icons (Michael Jackson, Madonna, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, etc). New Pop artists used mass medias as an influence and a source of inspiration, but also to promote their work. New Pop Art tended to criticize western culture and question its values, relationships and interactions. What’s more, it often mocked celebrities and openly embraced controversial and provocative ideas. Thanks to Pop Art, for the first time popular culture (movies, television, comic strips, advertising) had not just been the subject of works of art, but also the aesthetics that artists sought after. In some cases, after 2000, New Pop Art of the Second Generation seemed to have developed in a sinister way, as it strongly criticized western lifestyle and appealed to its fears and obsessions.
Chapter 4: Steve Kaufman Born in South Bronx
« I’m Steve Kaufman. I grew up in the South Bronx. I was doing Graffiti art. I was arrested when I was fifteen and the judge sentenced me to clean nine subway cars... »29.
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Steve Kaufman, Coffee Table Book , Steve Kaufman Art Studio – 2009