Andy Warhol by Jack Mitchell
One of the world's most celebrated Pop Artists, Andy Warhol, immersed himself in infamous 1960s popular brands and celebrity Icons. Andy Warhol was revolutionary in establishing the Pop Art culture in America and his Pop Art paintings proved popular over the years in which Pop Art dominated the art world. Pop Art featured anything from popular supermarket item brands to female celebrity film stars. Pop Art still holds a level of intrigue amongst contemporary art world critics and in arts circles in general.
In the Beginning: Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol was born in 1928 and grew up to become a Commercial Artist. While working at his desk, Andy began to collect Campbell Soup cans after devouring their content for his lunch – this is when Andy's initial Pop Art ideas grew. Andy began creating his famous Campbell Soup Can artwork and it became an instant point of conversation and controversy within arts gossip columns and art critical opinion pieces.
Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley Marilyn Monroe was a popular celebrity film icon, and Andy Warhol grabbed attention for his portrayal of Marilyn in one of his grid styled paintings. Andy moved from inanimate objects to people who symbolised popular culture. Elvis Presley was another 1960s star who became one of Andy Warhol's Pop Art grid art subjects. Andy Warhol's Pop Art grid paintings were seen as being a statement about consumerism, and Marilyn and Elvis were seen as products of consumerism.
Canvas to Silk Screen
Silk Screen Printing became one of Andy Warhol's mediums of choice. Andy would photograph an image and then create a Silk Screen Stencil out of it, allowing him to reproduce the same image several times. Andy loved working with large canvases which he would stretch and use to place the Silk Screen Stencils onto, creating a repeated pattern of the Stencil image. Using stretcher bars, Andy was able to create each image slightly different in size than the next and by changing the colour schemes with each application of the Stencil image, each image varied in colour too.
Lifetime AchievementAndy Warhol lived from 1928 to 1987 and is remembered for his Campbell Soup Can Pop Art. The Pop Art Culture was known for its bold statements about Popular Culture in a time when consumerism was part of the everyday American lifestyle. Developing out of an era of abstract expressionism following World War II, Andy Warhol was one of the first Pop Artists and one of the first artists to accentuate the idea of the existence of consumerism.
Check out Pop Art and Australia at the
Art Gallery NSW Virtual GalleryReferences:
"Masterworks", by Iain Zaczek. Published by The Brown Reference Group, London.2003
