ANDY WARHOL

Art creator or art work himself?

Andy Warhol 1928 - 1987

American painter, film-maker and author.

Born in Pittsburgh, originally named Warhola.

Studied pictorial design 1945-9, learning how to approach the world as a social organism within his art and appropriate the world around him to make it sensible.

1949 moved to New York, worked as a commercial artist for magazines and department stores (Glamour Magazine) as well as illustrating some of Truman Capote’s short stories.

Subject matter includes: movie/music icons, supermarket objects, newspaper images/headlines, as well as doing film and producing music.

Photo Booth Self-Portrait c1963

Gelatin silver prints; Each 19.6 x 3.6 cm

Examples of Warhol’s commercial illustrations of the1950’s. What sorts of art styles can you see being incorporated in this work? (Think Expressionism unit as well as from what Johns and Rauschenberg were doing). Explain your ideas.

Development of Warhol’s work

1960 began to make paintings based on newspaper title pages, advertisements and other mass-produced images

1962 began to use silkscreen industrial printing processes used to make paintings

1963 – 1964 first sculptural works replicas of product packages

1963 Shot his first film became increasingly active as an experimental film-maker establishing Warhol Films Factory Inc.

Untitled (Superman Collage #15)1960

Describe and explain the use of the various media that you see in this work. What are the obvious elements of Pop and Ab Ex? What makes you say so? Why do you think Warhol chose these particular images and to represent them in this way?

Dick Tracy, 1960, synthetic polymer paint on canvas

How has Warhol changed his method of production from what you saw in the previous work? In what ways is he recontextualising and appropriating these images? Would you consider this ‘high’ art? Explain your answer. In what ways is Warhol reflecting the society that he is a part of?

Marilyn Diptych 1962* Acrylic on canvas support 205.4 x 144.8 cm (each)

Describe this work in regards to Warhol’s style. Consider the following ideas: colour, repetition, composition, form.

Discuss the use of iconography in this work and explain what you think the significance is. Why might this be important?

* Warhol’s first attempt at screen printing. The image appropriated from Munro’s publicity shot from film Niagara. Munro dies in 1962.

Campbell's Soup Cans. 1962. Synthetic polymer paint on thirty-two canvases, Each canvas (50.8 x 40.6 cm).

Warhol’s use of repetition is known as “the multiple”. In what ways is Warhol bringing our attention to the world of the mundane? Is he making a comment on American of the 1960s? What comment is that? Why do you think that he may have been interested in using such subject matter in his work? Is this really ‘art’?

           Brillo Boxes

acrylic and silkscreen on wood, 20 x 20 x 17 in

(later edition) 1969

This work is from an original 1964 group exhibition called The American Supermarket.

In what ways is Warhol bringing his design background into these works? What reaction do you think the public would have had seeing this type of work? What art movement that we have briefly touched on from the 1930s does this work seem reminiscent of? (Hint: one of the major exponents from this movement moved to New York during the exodus of the European creative community).

Triple Elvis 1962, silkscreen ink on aluminum paint, on canvas, 82 x 71”

Meaning…

Consider and answer the following questions:• What does Elvis represent to the American people? • How about how is being represented in this particular work?• What sort of comment do you think Warhol is making on American society? What makes you think this? (Consider what you can see in the art work).• What sorts of allusions are being made towards Hollywood? How do you know this? Do you think they are positive or negative?

Death and Disaster SeriesWarhol collected various newspapers, magazines, and supermarket tabloids

1962 onwards the series explores the impact of cropping images taken out of a journalistic context and placing them as multiples into the context of art.

Consider the stylistic features that Warhol is employing here…list three of them. How are these similar to artists that we have seen so far within this movement (ie. Johns/Rauschenberg) and how are they different?

What comment do you think Warhol is making on society with this image? What makes you think so?

Red Race Riot 1963

Car Crash CA. 1978 Unique Screenprint on Curtis Rag Paper 35 x 45 inches

White Car Crash c1963

Andy Warhol talking about why he started doing car crashes in late 62:

“Every time you turned on the radio they said something like 4 million are going to die. That started it....when you see a gruesome picture over and over again, it doesn’t really have an effect”