Born in 1928 in Pittsburgh, Andrew Warhola was the son of Slovak immigrants. Nicknamed Andy at a young age, his interest in art started very young. Andy made his way from a Pittsburgh working class family, to an American Legend. He attended the Carregie Institute of Technology between the years 1945-1949 and majored in Pictorial Design. He moved to New York to pursue a career in this line of work. He soon landed a job as an illustrator for Vogue Magazine and before long he was one of New York’s most successful illustrators. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that Andy became an independent artist. During these years he shortened his last name to Warhol. In the 1960’s he started painting objects that were of mass production. Such as Campbell Soup cans and labels. Andy Warhol brought real-life images from culture and created surreal painting. His famous paintings consisted of Marilyn Monroe’s and as mentioned before, Campbell Soup labels.
His paintings were very colorful and bright. Many times he used non realistic colors, seen in Marilyn. He became a famous figure in New York; Andy Warhol wanted to find the line between fine arts and commercial arts. This is really when he became a pop art icon. He started with comic books, record albums and advertisements.
In 1962 he created ‘The Factory’ he did this in order to mass produce his own works of art; which was really ‘pop’ culture. The Factory was a studio in which Andy hired artists to mass produce many of his pieces. The factory also served the purpose of a filmmaking studio. Where roughly 300 underground films were made, including pornography. You can only imagine what kind of place this factory was.
In 1968, while sitting in the factory; the artist was, almost killing Andy. Valerie Solanis was the attempted murderer. She had worked for Andy and had felt that he was taking up too much of her life. Unfortunately this icon never recovered 100 percent from the wounds in result of the shootings.
Into the 1970’s Andy established into a major artist of the 20th century and celebrity. His work was in museums and galleries around the entire world. By the 1980’s he had T.V. shows on MTV and his own Series. Paintings in these years include ‘Hammer and Sickles’ and ‘The Jews of the Twentieth Century’. In his last years, he was lucky to be able to team up with Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Keith Haring.
1987 was a rough year for Andy Warhol fans, a failed gallbladder surgery led to this famous artist’s death.
I chose Andy Warhol because I really like the creativity and individuality that he has when it comes to his paintings and films. Andy Warhol wanted to paint things that everyone was able to relate to, such as Coke, Marilyn Monroe and Campbell soup cans. Everyone is familiar with these things, and in a sense, these simple things connect people, and Andy Warhol, made that happen through his pieces of art.
The Campbell Soup can in my personal favorite painting from Andy Warhol because it’s something that I’m familiar with. Because of this familiarly it’s something that’s easy for me to look at. Instantly I know what it is, and I like when that happens with art. When I first saw this painting, I was about fourteen years old, and it was during a field trip for visual arts, to the Milwaukee Art Museum. I still remember when I saw it, I was in complete awe, because for once, I saw something that I recognized while I was at a museum, which doesn’t happen often to a child. And ever since then, Andy Warhol has caught my attention. That’s one main reason why I like Andy Warhol’s paintings, there are so familiar, yet very unusual.
I think this is why his painting were in more of a popular culture than in fine arts, his art and himself were pop art icons. He was very appealing to a mass audience, not just royalty, or the wealthy, but an ordinary person could look at his art, and feel like they belonged in society, because they could relate somehow.
Works Cited
8 comments:
Jessica-
I really appreciated you giving biographical information at the beginning of your entry. I also liked that you included your personal experiences with the artwork. I do wish though that you had given a kind of thesis statement near the beginning to set up your entry.
Your interest in the "ordinary" person's connection to art could be more developed. It is a big issue that is worth exploring. To me, that aspect of Warhol's work is what is appealing to you, and I'd like to read more about that.
You make an interesting comment about The Factory: "he created ‘The Factory’...in order to mass produce his own works of art; which was really ‘pop’ culture."
What do you mean was the "pop culture" element - the work itself or its mass production? Or both?
Jessica: I too really enjoyed reading your piece on Andy Warhol. I think you brought up the strongest "point" about his career, which was to connect to the common man through the exploits of art. I would have liked to hear more about society's reactions to the new phenomenon which was Mr. Warhol, and I would have liked to hear more about his development in art (both objectively, and in terms of how he felt about himself). How did he develop through the years? How was he perceived and when was he "valued" the most? Overall, your piece was well-written and informative. The biographical information in the beginning "hooked" me - what an interesting life he led!
Jessica,
I really enjoyed reading what you had to say about Warhol, especially your anecdotal experience with his work and why his work is so appealing to you personally.
But, that's also where I think the blog falls a bit short. I would love to hear your thoughts about how your personal connection with Warhol's potrayals of pop icons we all recognize ties into the general reception to Warhol's work-- Warhol created art en masse for the masses, and how did the masses react?
Warhol was a genius and a master at exploitation. He used many of the people in his life as influences, but also milked them dry for their raw talent (Basquiat was a prime exmple) - I'm curious if you were able to come across that in your research. Overall though, I enjoyed the way you were able to connect to his art - a very descriptive summary.
I was most drawn to your explanation for choosing Warhol for this post and the following personal anecdote. I thought it was a great demonstration of the the artwork's intent of familiarity and accessibility. I was greatly interested in your idea of simple things connecting people, and feel that might be a rewarding topic to explore further.
For me, the biographical section seemed a bit excessive, but I would have been interested to read more details about his transition from unknown to iconic status, specifically concerning public reception of his works and the artist himself as a personality. (The paragraph where you address the shooting was slightly confusing as I think you left out part of a sentence.)
Thanks for your hard work
Jessica,
I enjoyed your piece and I'm so glad Mr. Warhol's work had such a profound effect on you. Just to dig a little deeper, I thought your statement, "Everyone is familiar with these things, and in a sense, these simple things connect people..." was terrific.
But to go further, how did Warhol's work function as a critique of popular culture by being so simple and familiar? How did his style and approach function as a tool to address deeper issues related to American consumer culture?
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