I would like to introduce to you - a guy that sometime we forgot the name when Don asked us in class
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Andy Warhol Biography - 1928-1987
"No other artist is as much identified with Pop Art as Andy Warhol. The media called him the Prince of Pop. Warhol made his way from a Pittsburgh working class family to an American legend.
Born in Pittsburgh
Andy was born in 1928 in Pittsburgh as the son of Slovak immigrants. His original name was Andrew Warhola. His father was as a construction worker and died in an accident when Andy was 13 years old.
Andy showed an early talent in drawing and painting. After high school he studied commercial art at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh. Warhol graduated in 1949 and went to New York where he worked as an illustrator for magazines like Vogue and Harpar's Bazaar and for commercial advertising. He soon became one of New York's most sought of and successful commercial illustrators.
The Pop Icon
In 1952 Andy Warhol had his first one-man show exhibition at the Hugo Gallery in New York. In 1956 he had an important group exhibition at the renowned Museum of Modern Art.
In the sixties Warhol started painting daily objects of mass production like Campbell Soup cans and Coke bottles. Soon he became a famous figure in the New York art scene. From 1962 on he started making silkscreen prints of famous personalities like Marilyn Monroe or Elizabeth Taylor.
The quintessence of Andy Warhol art was to remove the difference between fine arts and the commercial arts used for magazine illustrations, comic books, record albums or advertising campaigns. Warhol once expressed his philosophy in one poignant sentence:
"When you think about it, department stores are kind of like museums".
The Factory
The pop artist not only depicted mass products but he also wanted to mass produce his own works of pop art. Consequently he founded The Factory in 1962. It was an art studio where he employed in a rather chaotic way "art workers" to mass produce mainly prints and posters but also other items like shoes designed by the artist. The first location of the Factory was in 231 E. 47th Street, 5th Floor (between 1st & 2nd Ave).
Warhol's favorite printmaking technique was silkscreen. It came closest to his idea of proliferation of art. Apart from being an Art Producing Machine, the Factory served as a filmmaking studio. Warhol made over 300 experimental underground films - most rather bizarre and some rather pornographic. His first one was called Sleep and showed nothing else but a man sleeping over six hours."
Some his art works:
In my opinion, Andy Warhol has created the new way of tasting art. Before, It is not easy and quickly for author to design a art. But Andy Warhol has applied the mass production process or method on creating art. For one idea, author can create variety of design versions. For example, with the idea of Marilyn Monroe picture above, If I choose Madonna face replace Marilyn Monroe's face and keep the way of filling color. I can create a new design product. Because, Madonna face surely have difference feeling to audience comparing to Marilyn Monroe.
The new idea of Andy Warhol is the simple daily objects also can consider as a part of art design. If a normal object is recreated by playing around and mixing around with technique and putting some kinds of ideas in the way of present. Surely, It will become a new art product.
I think his idea is the transitive process to postmodern art. When digital technology becomes a important part of design art. If you play with Photoshop filter techniques, you can multiple ways to create a new image base on an original image. Pop art is a ship to bring real fine art close to real life and get more communication to people. Before, maybe the high education people or the high class people can have chance to taste art. But from now, people have more chance to do it. Art spreads out to all class in society. That is good idea to bring all together. And I like this idea.
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