Stephen Marchegiani
March 13 2012
Photoshop
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol was one of the most famous and well respected artists of all time. Warhol was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1928 and would live there for most of his life. He was the son of two Slovakian immigrants. Warhol was a homosexual and many people believe this influenced his artwork. He attended Carnegie Mellon. Warhol is perhaps best known for his work in pop art and his abstract paintings. Arguably his most well known piece is a picture of a Campbell’s soup can with his own unique touch to it. Some of his other famous paintings are of coke bottles and brillo pads. He also made paintings of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Troy Donahue, Muhammad Ali and Elizabeth Taylor. He founded "The Factory", his studio during these years, and gathered around himself a wide range of artists, writers, musicians, and underground celebrities. He began producing prints using the silkscreen method. A pivotal event was the 1964 exhibit The American Supermarket, a show held in Paul Bianchini's Upper East Side gallery. The show was presented as a typical U.S. small supermarket environment, except that everything in it – from the produce, canned goods, meat, posters on the wall, etc. – was created by six prominent pop artists of the time, among them the controversial (and like-minded)Billy Apple, Mary Inman, and Robert Watts. Warhol's painting of a can of Campbell's soup cost $1,500 while each autographed can sold for $6. The exhibit was one of the first mass events that directly confronted the general public with both pop art and the perennial question of what art is (or of what is art and what is not). His work became popular and controversial. The highest price ever paid for a Warhol painting is US$100 million for a 1963 canvas titled Eight Elvises. The private transaction was reported in a 2009 article in the Economist, which described Warhol as the "bellwether of the art market". Some of Warhols artwork however was critizised by artists for being much too commercialized. Warhol's works include some of the most expensive paintings ever sold As the 1960s progressed; Warhol devoted more of his energy to filmmaking. His underground films are known for their inventive eroticism, plot less boredom, and inordinate length (up to 25 hours). Warhol also made several films throughout the 60’s and 70’s these films remained popular for there unique and different style. Throughout his career Warhol was one of the leading figures for artistic expression in the 1960’s. Throughout the 1970s and until his death he continued to produce prints depicting political and Hollywood celebrities, and he involved himself in a wide range of advertising illustrations and other commercial art projects. He was one of the most famous and important American cultural figures of the late 20th century, and the effects of his conceptions of art and celebrity continue to be felt. Warhol was one of the most famous and greatest artists of all time.