World War II marked the period when the art world shifted from Paris to New York as artists tried to get away from the turmoil events from the war Abstract Expressionism served as America s first major art movement as it dominated the art world globally During the 1950s or postwar artists became obsessed with Duchamp s way of perceiving the function of art Artists such as these broke away from traditional mediums as they created art out of anything and displayed it on anything Through the 1950s 1970s a handful of movements developed such as Earthworks Conceptual Art Performance art and others Abstract Expressionism Arshile Gorky Evolved from Surrealism Abstract Expressionism represented the climax of the collective thought of artists in their goal to reveal universal truths However they were also inspired by Existentialism which was caused by the devastation of WWII The war not only destroyed faith in science and rational thought but faith in progress As a result the drive to find universal truths was lost The art from A bex artists demonstrated this new Existentialist view of the work as they portrayed their physical psychological and social being the expression of oneself The transformation from Surrealism to Abstract Expressionism occurred when art became completely non objective and unsymbolic To help along with this transformation from Surrealism to Abstract Expressionism was Armenian artist Arshile Gorky Action Painting Jackson Pollock Willem de Kooning Jackson Pollock was responsible for making action painting or gesture art the accepted focus of painting Willem De Kooning also used gesture art to portray his inner feelings Pollock s first and most famous action painting titled Autumn Rhythm Number 30 was created by the application of dripping hurling splattering and pouring paint on a canvas Because there is no place to focus on inside the painting Pollock s Autumn is referred to as an allover painting Because Pollock s style of painting was very personal he did not have many followers Unlike de Kooning a Dutch gestural painter who spawned a generation of followers De Kooning broke the tradition of non objective Abstract Expressionism art by actually representing a figure in his painting Woman I De Kooning applied the same sexualized curvilinear patterns as he did in previous paintings Because his contradictory feelings de Kooning ended up repainting the same image over and over again This made Woman I the most violent and threatening representation of in his Women series Colorfield Painting Besides the gestural side of Abstract Expressionism color field painting also became a form of a bex art Color field artists used large pannings of color to convey meditation and express the elements that related to universal truths Rejecting Abstract Expressionism Combines Pop Art Robert Rauschenberg Artist Robert Rauschenberg and composer John Cage played a huge role in the change from abstraction art to an impersonal analysis of art Rauschenberg a Texan artist was influenced by Duchamp s idea of Conceptual art as his work centered around representing the world without giving it a definite meaning However unlike Duchamp whose work is to shock viewers and destroy past traditions Rauschenberg s work is a positive representation of life Rauschenberg s collection of real world materials into his work became known as combines Rauschenberg s combination of painting sculpture collage and found objects can be seen in his combine titled Odalisk Jasper Johns Pop Art which served as a reflection of popular culture emerged in New York during the early 1960s It got its name from popular culture The art found in pop art reflected the imagery of mass media Pop art artists turned commercial art which was considered low art and transformed it into high or fine art subsequently revealing the manipulative face of mass media Jasper Johns painting The Three Flags is considered Pop Art because of its American theme Although Johns Three Flags is considered Pop Art he did not create the image to reflect American pop culture In actuality John was an artist who painted flat objects in order to remove illusionary depth Andy Warhol The two famous American artists associated with Pop Art is Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol Like Lichtenstein Warhol s art was based off comics however Warhol later turned to the imagery of mass media and mass production in his work titled Campbell s Soup Cans His painting is a response to the company s 32 variety of soups as his painting features 32 Campbell s soup cans The painting is also a response to mass production Minimal Art Donald Judd Another style emerged during the early 1960s called Minimal art Artists of this style created sculptures by relying on geometric and conceptual elements They also used unconventional materials found in mass productions Artist then took their ideas and gave it to factories in order to recreate their work Artist Donald Judd reflects Minimalists characteristics in his sculpture called Untitled which is an organization of copper boxes This sculpture is thought of as a specific object because it did not reference anything but itself In other words its meaning is specific towards itself Post Minimalism Richard Serra During the tumultuous events of the Vietnam War and civil rights movements artists could no longer be emotionally removed from social and political issues Although the art during the 1970s retained the geometric and conceptual elements of Minimalist art this art known as Post Minimalism reflected powerful emotional issues Post Minimalist artist Richard Serra used visually and physically heavy geometric lead objects that invoked themes of gravity fear life and death Serra s sculpture Corner Prop represents the fear of danger as a lead cube is precariously propped up by a lead rod To add onto the danger element both objects are simultaneously unsecured by anything Earthworks and Site Specific Art Robert Smithson During the Post Minimalistic period artists moved their work towards new and unconventional environments They retained minimal art concepts as artists created temporary works that used natural resources such as earth snow volcanoes lightening and deep sea sites Robert Smithson created a site specific sculpture by manipulating the natural environment in his most famous earthworks titled Spiral Jetty His work is known as site specific art because if it were to be moved the work would be altered His sculpture was made in an