First came ‘socialist realism‘ and ‘realistic art‘, an art form depicting the ‘glory’ of communism by portraying its achievements as if in the real world. Established in the Soviet Union in the 1930s but equally applying to many other communist regimes worldwide. In contrast, and almost as an antidote, came ‘capitalist realism‘ and ‘pop art‘. This stresses the materialistic ideology of capitalism and has hitherto been associated particularly with Germany, the UK and America, starting with the pop art culture of the 1950s and 1960s and commodity art in the 1980s and 1990s. The pictures show examples of realistic art and pop art.

Mark Fisher, in 2009, famously wrote ‘Capitalist Realism – Is There No Alternative?’ published by Zero Books. This is available through Amazon.