Pop art rejected established expectations about art's aesthetic qualities and need for originality. Pioneered by artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein in Britain and the United States, pop art portrays mass culture, low-brow sources, including advertising, comic books and non-elitist cultural objects. Andy Warhol took product labelling and logos from Campbell’s soup tins and a Campbell’s tomato juice box as subject matter for his pop art in the 1960s.

Originally the genre was popular from the 1950s through the 1970s but was reborn in the 1980s under neo-pop art, thanks to artists like Jeff Koons. Pop art sometimes takes the material objects out of their usual context, keeping them isolated or in combination with other unrelated materials. Pop art is seen as a reaction to abstract expressionism and are some of the earliest examples of contemporary art.

1960s

Pop Art also art helped shape conceptualism, otherwise known as conceptual art, which saw the ideas in the artwork as being more important than its aesthetic and the materials used. Conceptual art is also known as ‘installations’ that can be constructed by anyone following simple written instructions. It is the idea that has made the art, so the idea is more important than the material object.

As an example, Warhol’s art, like the soup cans and portraits of Marilyn Monroe or Jackie Onassis, were created without him touching anything. He proposed the concept, chose the photo (which was made by someone else), had a silk screen made of it by a technician, and had printers make the actual prints using colours he chose. Yet these works are "original Warhols". The "art" is not in the production, but in the concept.

Though this experimental movement is popular in the 21st century with major artists including Damien Hirst and Ai Wei Wei, it emerged in the 1960s and was closely associated with the Turner Prize in the 1990s. Particularly in the UK, conceptualism defined art that did not include traditional skills of painting and sculpture.

1960s

Minimalism, like Conceptualism, began in the 1960s and is still relevant today. Whilst both pop art and minimalism genres challenge the existing structures for making, circulating and viewing art, Minimalism is simply inviting viewers to respond to what they see, not what they think a work of art represents. Minimalist objects are spare geometric forms, often made from industrial processes and materials, which lack surface details, expressive markings, and any discernible meaning.

The use of commercial techniques in Minimalism, removes all emotional content implied by the artist's approach, something that had previously been important to modern painters. Key figures in merging fine art with ordinary aspects of life include Donald Judd, John McCracken and Dan Flavin. Marina Abramović, Yayoi Kusama and many others continue to create avant-garde works of painting, sculpture, installation, and performance art. Many emerging contemporary artists are producing stunning works with an original approach to art that includes a personal twist on conventional art such as painting, sculpture, and installation, but have also popularised other forms of art including embroidery and tattoos.

1970s

Photorealism is an art form that began in the early 1970s. It covers painting, drawing and other graphic media to reproduce a photograph as realistically as possible without using the original photograph. Photorealists were influenced by the work of pop artists as they were both reacting against Abstract Expressionism and the increasing use of photographic media, with photorealists attempting to reclaim and promote the value of an image since a photorealist painting leaves the viewer fully aware that they are looking at a painting.