'Pop Art Myths' and the 'MYTHS AND HEROS' Notion

Equipo Crónica - Guernica  1971

1- Pop Art movement can be related to a belief or story that has become associated with a person, institution, or ocurrence, especially one considered to illustrate a cultural ideal. But it can also be related with the representation of a character with noble qualities who, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, displays courage and the will for self sacrifice that is, heroism for some greater good of all humanity.



2-This painting is the second part of the series "Guernica" made by Equipo Crónica in 1971, during the dictatorship of Franco. They demythified a mythical spanish paintor like Picasso to show instability in Spain in the 70's and their opinion against the dictatorship and against the repression system. They changed the lugubrious colors or actualy they covered them with very shinning colours, red and yellow, representatives of the mythical superheroe's comics and they also highlight this idea of comic with the onomatopoeia "WHAAM!" an element that remind us to the pop artist lichtenstein. Even if Equipo Crónica demythified this painting they continue with Picasso's idea of violence of the composition. The horse in the painting of Picasso symbolize civilians, it is injured because of the attacks. The brutality of the italians and germans in June 1937 is depicted by Equipo Crónica with less lyrism, more explicit.



3-Personally I pretty like Pop Art, I think it is original and I particulary love the historical pop art paintings, their different meanings, the demythification, the way they changed an art into another. The use of explosives and shinning colours makes me feel surprised at every artwork I see. I appreciated this kind of art and artist.

Why can we connect Pop Art with modern mythology? Not all mythology dates from the days of ancient cultures. People around the world continue to create new myths and to embroider or rework existing ones. Modern technologies such as publishing, movies, telecommunication, and the Internet allow folktales, rumors, and newly minted myths to travel faster and reach more people than ever before. One distinctive feature of some modern legends is that they originated as artistic creations, although their creators may have drawn on earlier themes. This is shown in Pop art with the representation of music myths for example, enlarging them and converting them in semi-gods for some people. They have become myths like the american dream or the 27 club.