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The Life and Works of Andy Warhol
Introduction
Andy Warhol is regarded as one of the most prominent artists ever for being an art legend. He was born in 1928 in Pittsburgh and finished his high school studies in 1954 where he managed to obtain a diploma and subsequently, he majored in pictorial design between 1945 and 1949 at Carnegie Institute of Technology. Many individuals reflect him as one of the supreme influential America artists of the second half of the twentieth era. He was part of the pop art movement and what made him renowned was his nature for exploring the standard culture in his work by use of brands, for instance, Coca-Cola as well as Campbell’s Soup which he termed it as one of his precious things to consume (Warhol and Andy, p.32). Also, his autograph style applied silkscreen-printing methods to generate duplicate; mass created imageries on the canvas after that various colors were introduced to make each of his paint unique besides to generate a variability of looks. Two decades after his death, he is still celebrated as an individual with a significant source of inspiration for many individuals in the contemporary society like the painters, fashion designers, musicians, photographers and also the filmmakers. This paper discusses the work and life of Andy Warhol, citing how his work was of beneficial into today’s artworks.
Analysis
Fascinated by the contemporary life, it is evident that Warhol centered his first works on commercials and he later ended up with creating sculptures as well as paintings of items. Consequently, his profession which in some point was enhanced by his fascination for death, industrialized promptly into the extensively perceptible flamboyant silk-screens of icon plus mediatized tragedies. However, from around the mid-1960s, his artistic attention eventually settled for underground film-production. Since from the start, his artistic intent are vibrant according to his statement, “art should and should not be only for the select few, but for the majority of American individuals.” Also, he was captivated by consumerism besides applying his prior knowledge of the improper media power; he grounds his art on advertisements.
In his artwork, Warhol converted some of the supermarket merchandises into art. By doing this, he was representing the consumerist America where he flourished in and everything fantastic concerning it. He used the Coke analogy to equalize the different classes in the society as the richest and the poor bought the same product as all the products consumed by the two groups were all the same. Moreover, Warhol through his standard work was able to discover silk-screening in 1962. Silk-screening was an industrial printing method of the newspaper which was an excellent tool for him to continue with his main agenda (Mattick and Paul, p.976). He claimed to apply the silk-screen method to help him develop everything similarly as the machine would. Therefore Warhol new-established silk screening method plus his fascination for publicity besides the de-humanization of society led to the creation of the “Death” series which received much recognition from the public. His statements on the “Death” series elaborates his disseminating of daily images over which unrelenting repetition, frequently connecting back to the media machines. Thus this a fact that without his explanations in the ‘Death” series, these pieces of art would result to be mere duplicates of newspaper photos, which would be empty of any valuable message.
Warhol did not only major in prints in his whole life as he also made films, sculptures as well as majoring in digital artwork. His studio was known as The Factory, and it was considered as an allusion to the mass-created nature of his creations. He used The Factory as a heart for the artists, movie stars and models who consequently developed to become fodder for his reproductions plus films. Further, the domicile operated as a concert location for The Velvet Underground. Warhol was able to collaborate with several upcoming artists in the 1980s, including Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat (Warhol and Andy, p.36). Warhol regarded art as a product, the similar way as the food the individuals consume and the clothes which they wear. And this concludes that he possessed an exact personal style mainly due to his living and dressing code. As a result of his works and living, he ultimately upswings to a rank of superstar celebrity and he manages to travel around the world marketing art, joining celebrity occasions and more so relishing the notoriety which he had accomplished.
Context
Warhol is a distinguished artist, his perception of the world ended up creating a whole new world in the art industry. He managed to change the art in the following sectors and ways:
The Pop Art Undertaking
It is certainly that Warhol is among or the most substantial figure in Pop Art and is accountable for its growth and eminence. He was able to acquire the post fifty’s fascination with commercialism, the consumer plus Hollywood products and thus with a humorous clue of its triviality, he achieved to turn the daily objects as well as the individuals from the then America’s widespread culture, into the current most familiar Pop Art pieces. Moreover his individual appreciative of notoriety, celebrity culture besides the media growth endorsed him to embrace an artistic approach concerning the different kind of individuals and objects which revealed the post-war social-cultural reality during that time. He managed to actualize them to an extreme fact on his works (Warhol and Andy, p.21). Therefore it is evident that Warhol edgy, straightforward and colorful explanations of ordinary things, as well as the Hollywood personalities, persistently changed the art world.
His Artistic Methods
Warhol managed to popularize the silk-screening as creative development. This technique features the creation of the same image in multiple times thereby allowing for the production of various colored versions of the image easily and swiftly. The use of overhead projectors as well as the Polaroid cameras are also some of his other groundbreaking methods in the artwork industry.
He Altered the Perception of Being an Artist
Warhol managed to communicate his artistic work in all sorts of methods. He is considered one of the first personalities to generate a radical notion in the art-formation world through “The Factory” which led to the making of several artists. The term “The Factory” is the name which everyone during the times of Warhol used and still applies to denote to Warhol’s studio. The most revolutionary thing regarding The Factory was that it led to the coming together of creative minds and thus allowed them to develop art mutually; the art which has still has a positive and felt impact on the today’s world. During that period, the individuals were working together through the proper following of Warhol’s directives. Warhol changed the notion of being an artist through the application of this skill, creating the ultimate piece not inherently connected physically, but abstractly to the artist.
Art as a Public Chronological Diary
The Warhol’s artwork can be regarded as a demonstration of the time’s most crucial events. His history of art pieces was in some instances stimulated by Marilyn Monroe’s demise, Red China and the post-Hiroshima incidences. Therefore Warhol was able to document all these happenings which to most individuals it mattered most, then by his prism, which had a far-reaching impact on several artists in the prospect.
The Perception of Fame Was Changed
In his statement, Warhol stated that “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for about fifteen minutes.” (Koch and Stephen, p.15). Through these articulations, Warhol in one way or another forecasted the media as well as the celebrity ethos of the present era. Those who were regarded as the celebrities or in other words as “stars” rise and faded after sometime plus where individuals can develop to be prominent for who they pretend to be or just who they are, without the necessity for specific exceptional talent. It was during that time that the media was becoming developing to be more and extra pertinent and lively, that Warhol assumed that soon individuals would commence projecting pictures of themselves which would occasionally grow to be all that they are.
Conclusion
As described in this discussion, it is evident that Warhol was a prominent individual who contributed a lot to the past and present artwork. Therefore from his artwork, it can be concluded by stating that the scope to which Warhol facilitates individuals understanding of his artwork is significant and hence his character is a part of his idea, from which his art originates. Moreover, although he died, his work is of great inspiration to several artists and those who wish to venture in the art industry. Further, there are many lessons which can be learned from his work for his idea was not to live forever but to create something which will live forever and this evident by Warhol legacy in the art which is experienced up to today.
Works Cited
Koch, Stephen. Stargazer: The Life, World and Films of Andy Warhol. Open Road Media, 2015.
Mattick, Paul. “The Andy Warhol Of Philosophy And The Philosophy Of Andy Warhol”. Critical Inquiry, vol 24, no. 4, 1998, pp. 965-987. University Of Chicago Press, doi:10.1086/448903.
Warhol, Andy, and Pat Hackett. POPism: The Warhol Sixties. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015.
Warhol, Andy. The philosophy of Andy Warhol: from A to B and back again. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014.
