We have compiled the life, works and little-known facts about Andy Warhol, the representative of Pop Art.
Who is Andy Warhol?
Andrew Warhola, born on August 6, 1928, as the third child of a Slovak immigrant family, begins his art education with his mother. After completing his primary education in Pittsburgh, he changed his name to Andy Warhol when he studied classical art at the Carnegie Institute for Technology, one of New York’s most prestigious schools.
Warhol, who does not neglect to travel the world during his school life, is under the influence of Japan, India, Italy, Egypt and Cambodia. He saw that the Pop Art movement he encountered in England shook the traditional understanding of art and adopted this trend. It reinforces its style and name with “Campbell’s Soup Cans”, which it exhibited for the first time in 1962.
Life of Andy Warhol
Warhol, influenced by the vibrant life of New York, the changing art movement and lifestyle, became one of the leading names of Pop Art after a while. From cookbook to TV series, from nightclub business to product design, he is among the rare names that have been successful in every sector. The Foundation, which was opened in 1987 to support visual arts in accordance with his will, can be considered as Andy Warhol’s most important legacy.
In the Andy Warhol Museum, which was opened in 1994 in Pittsburg, where he was born, it is possible to examine his works, drawings, archive of sculpture, film and photography, and the issues of Interview magazine he published for many years. In addition, sound recordings, diaries, wigs and huge perfume collection can be seen here.
Works of Andy Warhol
Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor
Warhol’s famous silk-print portraits include politicians, friends, and orderers, but the most famous of these are Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. Warhol, who multiplied these prints as mass production to popularize Pop Art, as the name suggests, caused great controversy.
Campbell’s Soup Cans
Andy Warhol, who never neglected to travel throughout his life; He saw that the Pop Art movement he encountered in England shook the traditional understanding of art and adopted this trend. He reinforces his style and name with “Campbell’s Soup Cans”, which he exhibited for the first time in 1962. The work consists of 32 canvases depicting all kinds of canned soups released by Campbell Soup Company.
Brillo Box
Just like Cambell’s Soup Cans, Brillo Box was one of the most widely used objects of its time. Andy Warhol’s transformation of this commercial object into art caused great controversy. The work, which was exhibited for the first time at the Stable Gallery in 1964, was sold at a record price in an auction organized by Christie’s in 2010. There is a book of the same name on Andy Warhol’s life and a documentary adapted from that book.
Banana
Banana, which has become one of Andy Warhol’s most popular works, was originally designed for the cover of The Velvet Underground & Nico’s debut album in 1967. Warhol, who also served as the manager for the first 5 years of the group, succeeded in making the “Banana” one of the most iconic symbols of the Pop-Art movement by reproducing this iconic work. Other famous works such as Marilyn Monroe and Cambell’s Soup Cans were inspired by this work.
Album Covers
Andy Warhol has also directed 60 films, has produced three TV series and also produced the album covers for The Velvet Underground, Rollings Stones and John Lenon. The album he designed for the Rolling Stones in 1971 is a privilege for being nominated for the Grammy Award.
Andy Warhol and the Famous Hamburger
With these two coming together, it is not a famous painting, but a very iconic commercial. The scene where Andy Warhol ate Burger King’s Whopper menu for 4 minutes was first featured in director Jørgen Leth’s “66 Scenes From America” in 1981. This famous scene came back to the agenda with the Burger King advertisement published in the Super Bowl in 2019. The behind-the-scenes scenes of this used commercial in the big hit is even more interesting. Because, according to rumors, the day this scene was shot, Warhol had to settle with the Whopper when the Big Mac menu he wanted did not come, and this iconic advertisement emerged as a result of this coincidence.
Andy Warhol’s Style and Inspiration
Andy Warhol opened the doors of his workshop, The Factory, where he can do all his work and meet New York’s vibrant art community, in 1962. He used the workshop, which was moved three times, until 1987. The venue, which he named the “Silver Factory”, which he used especially for film and photo shoots and covered with silver foil, is among the places visited by his fans today.
Andy Warhol
Presenting a different perspective by playing with the proportions and color placements of the daily objects, Warhol’s strangest object is the stuffed Great Dane that he bought because his name is Cecil. The object, which served as a watchman for 17 years on The Factory’s door, is also the inspiration for the Canis Major series.
Little-Known Facts About Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol, whom his friends and assistants called Drella, created this name by combining Dracula and Cinderella. The fact that he rarely gives sincere and truthful answers and uses both names, the couple’s soul is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. It has been associated with the Hyde structure.
The artist, who is known for his brush-like hair, used these wigs to camouflage his shed hair in his twenties. He preferred silver wigs, compatible with creating his own style, until the end of his life. The purple-haired alternative in his self-portraits, which he serialized in 1986, is remembered for being sold for 32 million USD in 2010.
Valerie Solanas and Death of Andy Warhol
The mentally unstable writer Valerie Solanas shoots Warhol when he speaks on the phone in 1968, thinking that he will steal a work of Warhol. When he wants to shoot others in the Factory at that moment, he is caught. Warhol comes to him a few hours after he is announced to be dead in the hospital. The death of the artist was twenty years after this event, as a result of complications he had during an operation he had in 1987.
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