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Oracle of DelphiAndy Warhol
December 27th 2007 01:22
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
"An artist is someone who produces things that people don't need to have but that he - for some reason - thinks it would be a good idea to give them." - Andy Warhol
Credited as the major force behind the pop art movement, the debate still rages about the artistic merit of Andy Warhol’s work and its legacy. Born in 1928 in Pittsburgh young Andy was a sickly child who contracted St Vitus Dance which affected his nervous system.
The king of kings
Bed ridden and paranoid of illness he spent long periods in his room drawing and writing while surrounded by images of Hollywood icons. This is where his desire to create was born and he would later study commercial art at the Carnegie Institute of Technology.
Moving to New York in 1949 he developed a reputation as a talented advertising artist and magazine illustrator. Garnering praise and respect over the next decade for his ink blot style.
It was in the early 1960’s that Warhol first started working with paints and rendering his now famous silk screen print style of recognizable products. Recolouring in collage the Campbell soups can and Coca Cola logo.
"I love Los Angeles. I love Hollywood. They're beautiful. Everybody's plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic." - Andy Warhol
the flavour of favour
By this time Warhol had achieved his sought after celebrity and surrounded himself with industry elite and underground talent alike. Fascinated with those in the public eye all his life his prints of cinema icons like Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor were instant hits.
Marilyn and Liz the Andy way
Setting up his studio named “The Factory” Andy was obsessed with commercial success, mass producing his work for consumption and in effect minimizing his own integrity in the industry.
"Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art." - Andy Warhol
Recognizable Che
Branching out as a producer of avant-garde films and subversive music he came to his now notorious realization “Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes”. Courting controversy and awarded with financial success his output lessened but his support of young up and comers meant his stock continued to grow into the 1980’s.
"If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There's nothing behind it." - Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol died in 1986 due to complications with his gall bladder. His impact on pop culture has made his work instantly recognizable and his influence on the art world one of the greatest of the last century.
Watch a video of Warhol works
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