Richard+Hamilton

=**RICHARD HAMILTON: POP ART ARTIST**= Richard Hamilton was born on February 24, 1922 in Pimlico, London. Without a full education he found work as an apprentice at an electrical components firm and started painting at night at St. Martins School of Art, which later led to his acceptance to the Royal Academy Schools. He then enrolled in the Slade School of Art for two years, and exhibited his art at the Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Richard Hamilton was an artist who realized that social status was now characterized by how many consumer products one possessed, and the fact that public icons were shifting from political figures to actors and singers. This lead to his creation of a Pop Art artwork.


 * //Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?//**

One of Richard Hamilton's most famous art works, //Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?//, was created in 1956 for the catalogue of the exhibition This is Tomorrow, in London, England, where it was reproduced in black and white. the piece was also used in posters for the exhibit. The piece was Hamilton's way of showing the new consumer lifestyle and how the time periods households were overcome by the products and advertisements they bought into. It was the transition from traditional art to the new style of "pop art."


 * //Swingeing London//**

Another artwork by Richard Hamilton that was very influential in the movement of Pop Art was //Swingeing London//. This depicts Mick Jagger and Hamilton's art dealer, Robert Fraser, handcuffed in the back of a police car for possession of drugs. It was widely received because it consisted of two famous men of that time who were considered the new role models and cultural icons. Hamilton recreated this photograph from a newspaper in London and used it to show the struggle against the British state's attempt to repress any expression of personal liberation.