Andy Warhol’s Pop Art

Andy Warhol was an American artist, producer and directorwho was lauded as a leading figure in ‘pop art’, which was a visual art moment. His works ofexpertise explore the relationship between advertising, celebrity culture, and artistic expression, spanning into a variety of media, including film, silkscreening, sculpture, painting, and photography. Check out BlouinArtinfo.com and Artsy.net which have more information on his life and a display of his works. 

Initially, Warhol successfully pursued a career as a commercial illustrator. He began to receive recognition as a controversial and an influential artist after exhibiting his work in numerous art galleries in the late 1950s. Warhol is credited to have coined the term- ’15 minutes of fame’, which were inspired by his words "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes", which is a befitting prophecy in today’s world of social media, YouTube and reality TV.

Pop Art arose in the mid-1950s and late 1950s in Britain and America respectively;it reached to its pinnacle in the 1960s. It began as a revolt against the prevalent approaches to art and culture and conventional views on what art ought to be. Emerging artists felt that what was being taught at art school and what they saw in museums did not touch their lives in any way and were unrelatable. They instead turned to sources such as Hollywood movies, advertising, pop music and comic books for their inspiration.

Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame was first claimedon July 9, 1962 when the Ferus Gallery showcased his first major exhibition. The show displayed a set of 32 canvases of Campbell’s Soup cans, one canvas for each soup variety offered by the manufacturer. Warhol found that he couldn't make his paintings fast enough on canvas, so he used a semi-mechanized print process to produce the work with an impersonal touch and mass-produced quality.

The exhibition was covered by Newsweek, Life, and Time magazine; and the soup cans in particular triggered controversy throughout the art world. One side viewed the machine-like reproduction of consumer goods as a defiance to the established abstract impressionist movement. Critics also raised concerns regarding the artist’s use of “assistants.” But another side embraced it as the new genre of “pop art”. Soup was good publicity and turned Warhol into a celebrity.

Warhol's other famous artworksportrayed Campbell soup cans, vacuum cleaners and Coca-cola bottles. He also painted celebrity portraits; his most famous subjects, apart from Marilyn, beingElizabeth Taylor and Mick Jagger. His portrait, titled "Eight Elvises", sold for $100 million in 2008, making it one of the most precious paintings in art history.

His novel sense of style and his celebrity companions helped him reach the superstar status which he pursued.