Andy Warhol

An innovative American artist, designer, publisher, filmmaker, producer, writer and collector. Andy Warhol, the founder of the homo universale ideology, was an outstanding personality in contemporary world art in general and the history of pop art in particular. He also entered the history of art as the creator of “commercial pop art”.

Warhol, who came from a low-income family of Eastern European immigrants that grew up in Pittsburgh during the time of the severe crisis, managed to become the highest-paid successful commercial illustrator in New York before he even began to engage in the art intended for galleries. His multiple imprinted images of Marilyn Monroe and other superstars, shoes, tin cans, quickly became synonymous with Pop art. In the 1960s, he was the producer and manager of the first alternative rock band, The Velvet Underground. The artist became an icon of the newest style for the bohemian New York, entered the circles of high society. His final achievement was the successful elevation of his name to the level of a popular idol and world celebrity. Several documentary films and feature films have been shot about the life of Warhol. The Warhol Museum was opened in 1994 in Pittsburgh; it houses and exhibits a large collection of works by the artist and director.

Key ideas:

– In general, Warhol’s philosophy was to look closely at ordinary objects and the ability to see them, like the whole world, from a different angle, as well as a large share of self-irony. The artist, sincerely convinced that there was nothing shameful in commercial painting, proved this with his creativity, transferring “images” of cans and other utilitarian objects to canvas.

– His early drawings and collages in the styles of neo-primitivism and neo-Dadaism were often comical, decorative and bizarre. His commercial illustrations became an arena, working on which, he learned to surprise and skillfully manipulate the tastes of the consumer. Their tone is very different from the works of pop art, often impersonal in the mood.

– The style of mature paintings by Warhol can be considered naturalistic pop art, although the master often used generalizing visual means. For example, the portraits of celebrities are sometimes distinguished by idealized features; sometimes, they resemble a rather penurious squeeze from the look of a specific character.

– The artist conveyed his mood either by silver-black tones or by bright colours; the use of neon tones at the end of his creative career is a cry about unexpressed feelings and thoughts. The viewer always feels the informational message that Andy wanted to convey to the public. The iconic images, still causing much controversy, are interpreted by some art historians as compassion for humanity, which is losing its ability to empathize.

– Pop art has become a new important stage in blurring the boundaries between high and low forms of art. Paintings by Warhol, as well as his directorial and publishing activities, expanded the influence of Pop art on other spheres of culture.