Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to emigrant parents. He spent much of his childhood sick in bed where he listened to the radio and collected pictures of celebrities. This time shaped Andy Warhol; the things that he listened to and the photos that he collected inspired the work that he would become famous for years later as an artist.
Warhol grew into a painter in the Pop Art movement. This particular style of art was one that took seemingly mundane things from society and presented it in a plain way to the audience. Warhol painted Coca-Cola bottles and Campbell’s Soup cans in an unembellished manner. The style was in direct contrast to the preceding Modernist movement, which attempted to communicate complex beliefs and ideas through abstract images. Warhol wouldn’t ever give a deeper explanation of his paintings other than, “Just look at the surface of my paintings... There’s nothing behind it.”
I believe that there is a deeper meaning behind Warhol’s paintings. I believe that he was trying to portray an idea that art doesn’t have to be complex and deep, with the universe’s answers found therein. I believe that he was making the point, in a very simple and strong way, that art can be whatever the artist wants it to be. A lot of people today look at Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans or Coca-Cola Bottles and think that it is just kitschy, meaningless art. The context of the art must be considered though. Warhol’s art has meaning because of the time in which it was produced. The playful and ironic nature of his art exemplified the postmodern art movement, which emerged after and rejected the modernism movement.
When I first saw Warhol’s art I was not very impressed with it. To me it seemed simple and unoriginal. My opinion started to change though the more I learned about Andy Warhol and the context in which he made his art. I know consider his art to be very ironic and brave. I love that he chose to reject the conventional ideas of art and move forward in his own playful way. I don’t believe that this type of art would work today because it would just be seen as pastiche, however in it’s time it was very influential and groundbreaking.
I chose both the Coca-Cola Bottles and the Campbell’s Soup Cans to pay tribute to in my creative project. I believed that these paintings were important for America’s art. I wanted to pay homage to a man that I didn’t understand or appreciate at first glance. Through this project I have come to learn that when I see something, and write it off after just a glance, there is probably more to it that I am not seeing in that initial glance. Andy Warhol’s art helped to change my rigid ideas about what art has to be into a more fluid way of thinking that will allow me to view new art with new eyes and an open mind.
My Monochrome Sprite Cans photograph is meant to pay homage to Warhol in a way that is both playful and ironic. I drew from his paintings of Coke bottles and soup cans and stacked the Sprite. Then I added the monochrome color to pay tribute to his unique images of Marilyn Monroe. The photo is my way of showing appreciation to a man who changed art in America.
No comments:
Post a Comment