Andy Warhol

One of the main artistic movements that emerged throughout the 20th century was for art or pop art and with it, many important artists emerged. This type of art was characterized by the use of images or objects that were present in popular culture and was widely used in advertisements, magazines and comics. One of the main representatives of this artistic movement is undoubtedly Andy Warhol , considered one of the most famous and recognized artists in the United States.

Andy Warhol biography

Andy Warhol was born on August 6, 1928 in Pittsburgh, United States . Coming from an emigrant Slovak family that arrived in the North American country before his birth. His childhood was lived between deficiencies and diseases because he suffered from a nervous system pathology that caused him a series of involuntary movements. He dedicated himself to studying commercial art and sculpture at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and moved to New York in 1949 where he began working as a publicist and illustrating different magazines, at which point he began to gain a good reputation.

He began to take pop art into account and develop new styles and in 1962 he managed to hold his first artistic exhibition in California , a place where he was well received. Later Andy Warhol held an exhibition in New York City where he presented a series dedicated to Marilyn Monroe. In 1968 he suffered an attempt on his life by one of his collaborators, Valerie Solanis , who had accused him of theft of material.

Death

Andy Warhol died in New York City . He had undergone surgery to remove his gallbladder, however, he presented a series of complications that included a cardiac arrhythmia , which is why he died on February 22, 1987 .

Relations

To date no stable relationship is known to Andy Warhol, many consider that he had an asexual personality although others thought that he was homosexual mainly due to the great influence of the subject in his works. Many of his portraits and films had to do with the gay subculture and with explorations of the complexity of sex and desire .

Children

To date, the existence of a son of this important artist has not been documented.

Fathers

His mother was Julia Warhola for whom he felt immense love and his father was named Andrej , both of Slovak origin.

Andy Warhol Characteristics

Andy Warhol was an artist in addition to being recognized a bit eccentric with his art and way of being, his main characteristics are mentioned below.

• He used to integrate elements considered mundane with popular culture .
• He was one of the most outstanding figures during the 70s .
• He is considered the main promoter of pop art , as well as being a graphic illustrator and designer .
• He suffered from Huntington’s disease .
• His first exhibition was made to show 32 types of containers for Campbell’s soup .
• Despite having declared himself homosexual , he continued to practice and be faithful to Catholicism .
• He worked in cinematography , photography , videos, and television .
• He managed to transform the trivial into things with meaning and symbolism for contemporary culture.

Technique

Andy Warhol’s main philosophy of life was his thought that commercial art was much better than normal art, for him, this was basically what the spectators consumed. He managed to use his own image as a type of advertising marketing . His main technique was based on color printing , modern art technique and screen printing , he also used transfer and photocopying with which he could make different mixtures using different types of graphic elements such as enlargements, cuts, repetitions and visual mergers.

His technique was also based on finding a simple image, seizing it and then completely revolutionizing it. He used spot colors and fairly simple visual textures , colors that, despite being a bit strident, managed to achieve maximum harmony by giving the images just the right balance. His lines , like the contours , were always well marked and he was concerned with getting the images to fit correctly so that in the end, everything could harmonize in the right way.

Acknowledgments

The artistic legacy that Warhol left can be observed mainly in two important recognitions, the first in the Andy Warhol Museum , a museum located in Pennsylvania in which more than 12,000 pieces of art can be seen. The second recognition was through the Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art.

Works by Andy Warhol

Among the main works of art by Andy Warhol the following are mentioned:

• Marilyn Diptych : considered one of his most important works, it showed Marilyn Monroe as a true icon of North American culture with a very avant-garde style.
• Campbell’s Soup Cans : made a total of 32 different designs for these soups that were very famous in the United States, pieces full of inspiration and innovation that were very well received.
• Dollar symbol: a symbol that he associated directly with wealth and reflected it in several of his works as an innate reflection of society.
• Liz Taylor : This was another of her great works and she represented the artist as Cleopatra immortalizing the artist in history.
• Mao Tse Tung : Andy Warhol was very daring and for this reason, he also represented important figures from other countries such as Mao, who had aroused the artist’s interest in representing the leader of communism .
• Rice Riot : In addition to portraying cans and portraits, Warhol was an active activist and this sentiment was also present in some of his works. In Rice Riot he looked for a way to be able to represent the dark and gloomy side of the famous American dream, a painting in which he managed to capture the great discrimination in a very sarcastic way using at the same time the colors of the American flag, showing his audience of this way the less democratic side of the country.

Films

Andy Warhol made several films and among the most important the following are mentioned:

• Poor Little Rich Girl . a film that shows the life of the model Edie Sedgwick, a film in black and white that shows the life of the artist within the socialite.
• Women in Revolt , a satire related to the liberal women’s movement, the creation of a group of women and their counterattack against sexual discrimination.
• Sleep , in which he showed the nocturnal liberation in the prison of time, an observation in a direct way about people, without masks, only the body and the skin.

Importance of Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol is considered today as the most important American artist and who exerted the greatest influence during the second half of the 20th century thanks to his work, his extravagance and his lifestyle. He was also one of the most important representatives of the current called pop art , an artistic trend that also led him to make great contributions in the cinematographic field . He challenged idealistic visions and emotions through abstraction and took a relevant place within popular culture and commercial- making processes.To appeal to the general public, he is considered for these reasons as a pioneer in visual art.