Skip to main content

Sounds Like Art

Claudia Riddiford
Write About Art 6
The following is a brief preview - the full content of this page is available to premium users only.
Click here to subscribe...

When technologies like the internet were not as they are today, affairs of common interest, such as popular culture, changed and adapted at a gradual rate. With current advanced technology developing at a rapid rate, information is growing and is spread quickly, which sees the discovery and adaptation of popular cultural icons also increasing. Pop culture is based upon the tastes of the masses, and is expressed through many creative forms, including visual art and music. But how has popular culture come to be such a significant part of art, and why is it so important? Angela McRobbie notes that ‘subcultural and underground forms [of popular culture] are not just worthy of notice but are aesthetically innovative as well as politically significant’ (McRobbie 1999). This is because popular culture is a creative reflection of society itself, therefore is fundamental to a community’s identity. 

‘Seen + Heard: Works and Multiples from the Collection’, exhibited at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art, explored the intersection of various popular cultural media since the 1950s. The exhibition was comprised of an impressive range of artworks by artists including Robert Crumb and Nam June Paik. The scope of works included film, sound art, prints, photographs and sculptures.

The nexus of genres is exemplified by vinyl LP records, introduced in the 1950s, which acted as a means of combining these modes of creative expression. They ‘provided a template for designers and artists in the creation of unique imagery and graphic styles’, reflective of the zeitgeist of the era (QAGOMA, 2014). In a world of technology and internet downloads, the appeal of records also stems from their sheer physicality and their status as cultural, historical artifacts. 

‘Seen +... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline

Robert Crumb, Cheap Thrills

Robert Crumb, Cheap Thrills album cover for Big Brother, 1968. © Sony.

Nam June Paik, TV cello, 2000.

Nam June Paik, TV cello, 2000. DVDs, video monitors, perspex, wooden cello neck with coloured plastic strings and wooden tail piece, marble base, 232.2 x 75 x 55cm (overall). The Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Collection of Contemporary Asian Art. Purchased 2002 with funds from The Myer Foundation, a project of the Sidney Myer Centenary Celebration 1899-1999, through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation. Collection Queensland Art Gallery. © Artist’s estate.