Art

    In 1928, a baby was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who grew up and revolutionized the face of contemporary art scene. This lad was named Andrew Warhola (Andrew Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts). He was the youngest among all the children of Andrej Warhola and Julia Zavacky Warhola. It was at Holmes Elementary School and Schenley High School that Warhol received his formal education. In college, he opted to study at Carnegie Institute of Technology where he studied with Balcomb Greene, Robert Lepper, Samuel Rosenberg, and others. Furthermore, it was during this period that Warhol started to alter his name. He used the name Andr when he signed Christmas cards and he removed the last letter a in his surname. By 1949, he already earned his degree in Fine Arts with a major in Pictorial Design. Also, it was at this time that he started to use Andy Warhol as his reference name (PBS.org).

    After college, Warhol immediately wandered off to New York to seek better career opportunities. Initially, he worked as a commercial artist and illustrator for magazines and newspapers. But it was his works for New Yorks finest fashion houses that sparked his popularity in the art scene. His specific work for I. Miller  Sons, a shoe manufacturer, which was characterized as both charming and whimsical won major awards from the Art Directors Club (qtd. in Livingstone). 

Even though Warhol was experiencing success in commercial art, he decided to shift his interest. Warhol was driven to be known as a serious talented painter. His early artworks were a series of pictures based on crude advertisements and on images from comic strips. More so, this type of art style of Warhol was influenced by Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg who were established modern artists during the 1960s. This became the start for the Pop Art Movement. In his works, Water Heater (1960), Saturdays Popeye (1960) and as Before and After 3 (1962), Warhol was able to paint in mock-expressive style that parodied the gestural brushwork of Abstract Expressionism. Also, he demonstrated his skills in creating a new style characterized by hard outlines and flat areas of color (qtd. in Livingstone). 

Due to Warhols unconventional art style and subjects, he was regarded by many as a Pop Icon. He pained common objects such as Campbell soup Cans and Coca Cola bottles. In addition to this, he made silkscreen print images of famous celebrities of the 60s such as Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. For Warhol, this is his way of eliminating the border line between commercial art and fine arts. He once said When you think about it, department stores are kind of like museums. Because of this notion, Warhol mass produced his paintings that lead to the establishment of The Factory. This was the venue where he employed in a rather chaotic way art workers to mass produce mainly prints and posters but also other items like shoes designed by the artist. More so, he utilized the technique of silkscreen printmaking to promote his belief of the proliferation of art. The Factory did not only serve as an art studio but also as a location for most of his experimental films (Wanzcura).

Through Warhols unremitting and bold development in his craft, he was able to change how the public perceive art. He had the ability to attract the publics interest, to make interesting remarks and to get hold of a common image that can shock people and endure time. Because of this, Warhol was considered as one of the most influential and widely emulated artists of his time (McGill).