Andy Warhol undeniably revolutionized the way we look at the world as well as the perception of art and its role in society. Through his scrutiny of consumerist and cultural trends in postwar America, Warhol highlighted in his aesthetics the references of an entire nation. Warhol’s impact extended beyond mere artistic expression; he redefined the very essence of being an artist, elevating it to a mythic status. Furthermore, his groundbreaking approach to image creation used a diverse array of mediums, ranging from photography to film, from the written word to silkscreen printing, and from advertising to performance art.
Born as Andrew Warhola, in Pittsburgh, into an immigrant family originally from Slovakia, Warhol’s early exposure to art came through the comic books and movies his mother provided during a prolonged period of childhood convalescence. He took free drawing classes at the Carnegie Museum and in 1949 and was the first in his family to receive a degree in Pictorial Design from the Carnegie Technical Institute (now Carnegie Mellon University). At 21, he moved to New York City where he began working as a commercial designer for numerous clients such as: Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Bergdorf Goodman, Tiffany & Co., and Columbia Records.
Warhol’s fashionable and sophisticated style differed from that of other illustrators. The speckled and jagged line, which characterized his drawings, was achieved by pressing paper over a wet ink drawing in order to create a duplicate that looked at once handcrafted and mass-produced. By the late 1950s, Warhol had bought a house in Manhattan’s Upper East Side and began collecting both ancient art and works by contemporary artists, such as Jasper Johns, Ray Johnson, and Frank Stella.
However, Warhol’s definitive entry into the art world occurred in 1962 when Irving Blum, curator of the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, invited him to exhibit 32 handmade “portraits” of Campbell’s soup cans, each depicting a different variety. Those portraits would become emblematic of Warhol’s oeuvre, recurring throughout his career for over three decades alongside photogravure prints. Warhol’s utilization of this technique introduced a standardized and repetitive process reminiscent of commercial methods into the world of fine arts, fundamentally altering its traditional applications.
The subsequent year, the artist relocated his studio to a loft on the fifth floor of 47th East Street, establishing the Factory, a renowned hub known for its legendary parties and, more notably, as a bustling center of creativity. In 1963, Warhol acquired his inaugural camera, promptly utilizing it to capture the silent, evocative portraits in the Screen Tests (1963-66) series and the unprecedented eight-hour single shot of Empire (1964). Additionally, he pioneered a novel form of celebrity: the novice actor propelled to genuine Superstar status. In 1964, the public discovered for the first time Warhol’s and the Factory’s creations at an exhibition hosted at the Stable Gallery. Transformed for the occasion, the gallery resembled a pantry stocked with Brillo Boxes and assorted consumer goods. Yet, amidst the exuberance and cheerfulness of consumerism, a darker and more obscure facet of the American dream emerged in Death and Disasters (1963-64). This series delved into the unsettling depths of human experience, presenting images of Elizabeth Taylor ill at the hospital, Marilyn Monroe following her suicide and Jackie Kennedy in the aftermath of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. These poignant portrayals uncovered the complex amalgamation of fascination and unease stirred by the intersection of human suffering with the celebrity status of these icons. Similarly, news events such as car accidents, suicides, electric chairs, and race riots evoked a similar effect.
From 1963 to 1968, films were Warhol’s main focus and he shot nearly 650 of them. Warhol created what has been seen by many as a possible ancestor of reality TV: The Chelsea Girls (1966). In 1966 he began finding interest in the music scene, directing and producing the Velvet Underground. Between the 1970s and 1980s, he made commissioned portraits, first taking polaroids and then making the silkscreen image. Many posed for him, from wealthy patrons and celebrities to other notable subjects, including fellow artists, transgender models (Ladies and Gentlemen, 1975) and athletes (1977-79).
Making portraits on commission gave Warhol the security of a steady income and thus the freedom to engage in experimentation. His ambition to document was carried out through his diaries, such as, among others, the Factory Diaries. Between 1972 and 1973, the artist initiated the silkscreen series on Mao Zedong.
Although far from the abstract forms of Expressionism, during the 1970s Warhol nevertheless tried to integrate them into his works. In Piss e Oxidations (1977) Warhol applied a method akin to Pollock’s drip painting technique by urinating on canvases coated with metal-based paint. The chemical reaction between urine and paint yielded a captivating array of iridescent hues, including shades of green, gray, and copper. A few years later is the series Shadows (1978-79), in which Warhol figured out how to bring back an image that was completely representative yet completely abstract, a concept that would return in the following decade with Camouflage and Rorschach.
In the 1980s the collaboration with the very young Jean-Michel Basquiat blended the iconography of consumer goods logos with that of graffiti expressionism. In 1986, the artist focused on making more than one hundred paintings representing the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci.
Andy Warhol died suddenly the following year after complications that had occurred soon after a routine gallbladder surgery. In his will, he requested the creation of a foundation dedicated to the advancement of visual arts, hoping that future generations would push this discipline in radical new directions. In this respect, the artist’s death is not to be considered as a point of arrival, but rather as a point of departure.