Andy Warhol, Self-portrait – 1963. Medium: Paint on canvas, Size: Dimensions:
208.3 cm × 208.3 cm (82.0 in × 82.0 in), Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York
5 Unique Facts about the Work
-For this artwork,
Warhol used a silkscreen image of himself
-Warhol’s
image is like a single and dramatic paint-splash on a black canvas
-This was
the last exhibit done by Warhol, in 1986
-Self-portraits
derived from polaroid photographs taken by Benjamin Liu, operating under
Warhol's instructions
-The
pictures were taken while he was sitting in the stairwell outside his studio
Andy Warhol, Mick Jagger – 1969. SIZE 29x43, Medium: Screen print
on Arches Aquarelle (Rough) Paper, Location: Different owners around the world
5 Unique Facts about the Work
-Silkscreen based on a
photograph taken of Mick Jagger by Warhol himself
-Its hand-made by additions
of collage elements he used from torn cheap graphic color aid papers
-Picture is made from 10
different photos
-This photo lead to Andy
Warhol designing the Stones record company logo
-Andy Warhol had never
charge Mick Jagger for any of the artwork he had done for him, this was because
of the friendship they made after this art piece.
Andy
Warhol, Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I), Medium: synthetic polymer,
silkscreen ink and acrylic on linen, Size: 90 x 80 in. (228.6 x 203.2 cm.) Painted in 1963. Location: Christie's
Galleries at Rockefeller Center, New York
5 Unique Facts about the Work
- Car crash paintings were actually part of a
series of paintings called The Death and Disaster Series
- Wasn’t made to help Ralph Nader visualize his
message about the lack of safety features in cars - The series also included images of airplane
crashes, the electric chair, atomic bombs, race riots - The car crash photo were the most popular out
the series - This
painting set world record being sold for $71,720,000 in 2007
I would say what makes him a true
master is his courage to announce his homo sexuality in the 60’s. Through his
mastering of advertisement Warhol mastered a style and mastered a market. The
influence of celebrities was massive in his time with superstars like Elvis and
Marylyn Monroe, and the people loved them. He used this idea of peoples love
for culture to create art that captured people’s attention; from famous
products to people to car crashes. Warhol’s work was for the masses not just
for the upper class to hang in their dining rooms. Warhol’s art always suggests
something about life; he let the world around him influence his art. His style
received a lot of criticism but he still pushed forward and he certainly did
make a difference in today’s life.
“Sometimes the little times you don't think
are anything while they're happening turn out to be what marks a whole period
of your life” – Andy Warhol
“Andy Warhol:I
think everybody should like everybody. Gene Swenson:Is that what Pop Art is all about? Andy Warhol:Yes,
it's liking things.”
Warhol’s art encompassed many forms of media, hand drawing,
painting, printmaking, photography, silk screening, sculpture, film and music.
Warhol’s style was known as pop art; which illustrates the relationship of
artistic expression, celebrity culture, and advertisement. Warhol was an early
adopter of silkscreen printmaking process as a technique for making paintings.
The earliest silk-screening in painting would involve hand drawn images. This
soon developed into photographically derived silk-screen paintings.
His work as a commercial artist and fine artist shows that
unintentional marks and smudges were tolerated. Both his commercial and fine
art endeavors were often full of imperfections such as smudges and smears. In
the 70’s Warhol devoted most of his time to finding well off celebrities that he would do portrait
commissions of such as Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Diana Rose, to name a few. In
the 80’s Warhol’s reemergence of critical and financial success in the 80’s was
due to his affiliation and friendship with prolifically younger artists. They
were dominating the New York art scene. All of Warhol’s work from the 70’s was
starting to cause criticism and that he was becoming a business artist. The
reviewers in 1979 disliked the exhibits and portraits of the 1970’s
personalities and celebrities. They called them superficial, facile and
commercial with no depth or indication of significance of the subject. The fact that
Warhol was a homosexual also influenced his work and shaped his relationship to
the art world is a major subject of scholarship on the artist.
The colour palette used by Warhol was bright colour no matter if
it was a painting of a celebrity or a car crash. He would also use softer pastel colours and blacks for shadows to contrast the main vivid
colours that made his art pop.
In his final years Warhol
pioneered in computer-generated art using Amiga computers that were introduced
in 1984. When Warhol died he was working on ‘Cars’, a series of painting for
Mercedes-Benz.
