Evan Hoyt_Artist Presentation_Andy Warhol

ANDY WARHOL

       Andy Warhol (1928-87) was a very influential artist, film director, and producer whose work spanned over decades across many mediums. Warhol was one of the leading figures of the pop art movement, he was a visionary director of films and multimedia projects, and he was an openly gay man in an era before the gay liberation movement. 

POP ART

    "Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the United Kingdom and the United States during the mid- to late-1950s. The movement presented a challenge to traditions of fine art by including imagery from popular and mass culture, such as advertising, comic books and mundane mass-produced objects."

    In more simple terms, pop art was a response by artists to the traditions of fine art including recognizable aspects of popular culture. Product labeling and advertising was common, as well as comic book style artwork, which are some of the most common examples when referencing pop art. In addition, pop art is an extension of the avant-garde and experimental art form of Dadaism, which rejected logic, reason, and aestheticism. 

Campbell's Soup I (1968)

    Often times, pop art is removed from its usual, recognizable context. You wouldn't expect to see a Campbell's soup can as a piece of art. The purpose of these works was to be so mundane, so recognizable that no one would even notice them: essentially hiding in plain sight. 

    When this work was premiered at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles in 1962, it was met with ridicule and derision by general audiences. At the time, images like Campbell's Soup I secured their place in infamy. It was until much later that these works became synonymous with Warhol's name.

    Another aspect of pop art that Warhol's work demonstrates is minimalism and simplicity. The previous standards of fine art are often complicated and intensely details, but genres like Dadaism and pop art seek to achieve the exact opposite of this. As can be imagined, things that contrast from the norm so harshly and blatantly would likely not be well-received at first, which could attribute the reason it took so long for Warhol to get adequate recognition for his visionary work. 

DIRECTED BY WARHOL

    Apart from his groundbreaking and trendsetting work in pop art, Warhol was also an experimental and visionary film director. Much of his work is avant-garde, and between the years of 1963-68 he produced over 60 films. 

    Some of his works from this early era:

• Sleep - one of his most famous works, monitors the poet John Giorno as he sleeps for six hours.
• Blow Job - a close up of the face of someone...enough said.
• Empire - 8 hours of footage of the Empire State Building at dusk. 
• Eat - a man eating mushrooms for 45 minutes. 

    

    Not all of his work was so...weird, however. In 1964, he produced and directed a film titled Batman Dracula, which was conceived without the permission of DC Comics, and screened only at Warhol's art exhibits. As a long time fan, Warhol decided to make this film as homage of sorts to the series. Whether or not by intention of Warhol, this rendition of Batman is considered to be the first appearance of a blatantly campy Batman. 

    Andy Warhol continued directing, producing many films using experimental techniques (Chelsea Girls, 1966, with two 16mm-films being projected simultaneously, showing two different stories) until 1968, when he finished his career as a director after he was shot. 

HE WAS GAY

    Warhol was also an openly gay man in the era before the gay rights movement. This movement didn't begin until the late 1960s at its earliest, and continued through the mid-80s. His studio in New York, called The Factory, was known as a gathering place for drag queens, celebrities, and many other personalities. As can be expected from a time where this "lifestyle" was not accepted, and considered shameful and repulsive by the general public. 

    This could likely have been another reason that Warhol's work was initially not looked well upon or generally accepted by many people of the times. In fact, it was for this reason that someone tried to take his life in 1968. A radical feminist named Valerie Solonas shot him inside his own studio because of his sexuality.

    

    Warhol died in 1987 after gallbladder surgery, due to complications resulting in cardiac arrhythmia. He was 58.