Claudia Pope

Your work blends abstraction and pop art – how did you arrive at this visual language, and what draws you to combining these styles?

I have always been drawn to the boldness of pop art and really began experimenting with styles during my relief printmaking class during my  undergraduate studies. I was drawn to the immediacy and visual directness of pop art and how it communicates quickly and unapologetically, while abstract work gives me the ability to work intuitively and the freedom to respond instinctively. As I began with pop art and then experimented with abstracts, I have now found that I bring that intuitive feeling of abstracts to my pop art creations. Combining these two allows me to move between control and spontaneity. The pop elements ground the work in something recognizable and the abstract layers allow ambiguity, gesture, and more of a personal kind of expression. I like working in that in-between space where opposites can coexist in one space creating surface and depth.

Claudia Pope | Adrift | 2025

Many of your pieces evoke a sense of nostalgia. What role do memory and personal experience play in your creative process?

Memory and nostalgia play a big role in my process, but not strictly in a literal way. I am not as interested in documenting specific moments, though some works may bring that to viewers, but to try to capture the feeling of remembering. Memories blur, overlap, or become slightly distorted over time, but I want to create a space where something feels familiar but you can’t always fully place it. The objects I’ve painted, cigarette boxes, billiard balls, and skylines, carry a kind of built in history and cultural memory. Even though they are not directly tied to a single personal memory, they evoke a shared sense of the past, suggesting moments, environments, and eras without spelling them out. I am drawn to how familiar objects can trigger emotion or recognition in different ways for different people.

Claudia Pope | Black 8 Ball | 2025

Your compositions feel both intuitive and deliberate. Could you describe how a typical work begins and evolves?

My typical work begins either with an object or moment that I feel connected to or a color scheme. I begin my pop art focused works with a symbol or object that feels nostalgic or memorable and think how the surrounding area can enhance the moment. When combining that abstract element, I work with colors that are complimentary but contrast to expand that memorable feeling.

Claudia Pope | Herd | 2025

Objects like the 8-ball or cigarette pack appear in your work – what attracts you to these symbols, and how do you reinterpret them?

I am drawn to these symbols because they are instantly recognizable but loaded with associations. Gravitating towards objects that feel familiar but a little charged. They all come with preloaded meaning whether it’s about chance, risk, vice, or even  identity. They become less about the object itself and more about the feeling or tension it holds.

How has your experience at Pratt Institute influenced your artistic direction and experimentation?

Through my studies at Pratt, I have been surrounded by so many creative people that have pushed me to take risks. My experiences thus far have prompted me to think outside the box in terms of process and supplies. In my first semester at Pratt this fall, we took a day to explore Materials for the Arts, a nonprofit arts organization in Queens, where I was inspired to use materials not traditionally put on canvas. This space invited me to think creatively and sparked the ideas of using the recycled material of metal wire to create my first abstract series, The Wired Series. Experimenting with the malleable material to create texture and bringing the abstract forward off the canvas brought me out of my comfort zone and into the experimentation of shape and form.

Claudia Pope | Lucky Strike | 2025

Your abstract works often suggest landscapes or environments. Are these imagined spaces, or do they reference real places?

I wouldn’t describe them as representations of specific places, but exist in the in-between spaces of memory and invention. I don’t go into the painting process trying to recreate a specific landscape but they emerge intuitively through the process. They might echo something real but they’re filtered through abstraction and intuition, so they shift and evolve as the painting develops. I am more interested in creating a sense of place than representing one directly.

Claudia Pope | That Girl | 2026

How do you balance personal storytelling with openness, allowing viewers to interpret your work in their own way?

For me, it’s about not over-explaining. There are personal references behind the work that inform the imagery and process, but as I paint I let it shift and loosen. I think my use of imagery and abstraction naturally creates a space for other people to enter the work. Not everything is clearly defined, and I prefer that approach because it means someone else can see something completely different than I do. For me, openness is essential because it keeps the work from becoming closed or uninterpretable.