The day Andy Warhol was born was August 6, 1928. He is an American artist, director, actor, producer, designer, and sculptor.
Let’s examine how Vorgol became well-known in the second half of the 20th century’s visual arts.
The modern art world has been dramatically influenced by Andy Warhol’s work, and the usual American popular culture has come to be associated with him. This is especially evident in the success of Andy Warhol Marilyn painting. The aspiring artist was born in Pittsburgh, although his origins were in Ukraine. His parents, Ondrej and Yuliya, are Ruthenians from the Carpathian village of Mykova (now part of Slovakia).
Photo by W W
How Popart Develops?
Vorgol is the brightest representative of the pop art trend. An artistic direction arose in the 1950s and is closely related to the concepts of consumerism, mass market, and commerce.
Popart focused on well-known and understandable images of that time. Vorgol drew inspiration from advertising, cinema, comics, music, and supermarket shelves. Everything that in one way or another refers to the concept of popular (mass) culture.
The Most Popular Works
One of Andy’s first famous works is a drawing of a Coca-Cola bottle. He will repeatedly return to this image, creating several paintings inspired by the famous drink.
The more famous work of the artist is “Canned Campbell’s Soup”. It all started in 1960 when Andy painted a picture with a can of rice and tomato soup. A little later, a series of works devoted to the Campbells appears. There is a variation of 32 soup images with different flavors.
Exhibitions of this work rather imitated the supermarket counter, something that the average American understands and sees almost every day. By the way, each picture had a smell corresponding to the taste in the jar.
The idea of Andy’s works can be described as the destruction of the “pride” and “arrogance” of art. He took ordinary, everyday things (be it a bottle or a dollar bill) and gave them the high-profile status of a “work of art.” And his approach to serial production (“stamping”) of his own paintings took away all the aura of uniqueness, making artistic works accessible to everyone.
After all, even if you can’t afford a painting, you can still go to the store and buy a can of Campbell’s soup.
Such commercialization and unification of art have also found their opponents. For example, the art critic and critic Robert Hughes was not too flattering about Warhol, calling him a “moral scoundrel” and an “aesthetic swindler,” and his art “infantile” and “obtrusive.”
However, Andy still had more supporters. Among them, there are many famous figures whom Vorgol simply adored and was constantly inspired by.
The most famous actors, musicians, and politicians of the time are often seen in the artist’s paintings. For example, the already legendary “Marilyn Diptych” is a silkscreen canvas, work which began a week after the death of pop star Marilyn Monroe.
Another variation of the portrait, “Turquoise Marilyn”, is Andy’s most expensive painting (sold at auction for $195 million).
