Right as the Roaring Twenties were coming to an end, with jazz music blasting and the economy beginning to crash with the onset of the Depression, an artistic mastermind was born. Originally born as Andrew Warhola, Andy Warhol was born on August 6, 1928 in East Port, Pennsylvania. He was one of three children, all boys, and at the age of fourteen, his father, Andrej Warhola, passed away in 1942; this left Andy’s older brother, Paul responsible for aiding their mother in taking care of the family. Growing up, Andy’s favorite thing to do was collect autographs and photographs of celebrities. He would frequently write them letters or meet them somewhere and ask them to autograph a photo for himself [1]. This seemed to be the start of Andy’s obsession with stardom, soon leading to his artistic inspiration. Alongside that, Andy also loved to draw. He loved drawing portraits and even people’s feet [2]. His obsession with the human foot was just foreshadowing the start of his career. It was easy to tell from a young age that Andy would be successful later on in life.
During the 50’s, Andy landed his first major job with Glamour Magazine, from 1955 to 1957, after moving to New York City, where he drew all of their shoe advertisements [4]. From there, he became a fashion photographer, which led to the takeoff of his artistic career. At the time, a new restaurant that quickly became the new hangout opened up in 1954 called Serendipity 3. Here, Andy began to sell his artwork for twenty-five dollars [5]. This is where Andy started to gain recognition.
"Marilyn Monroe"
At the start of the 1960s, Andy finally became recognized as an artist. Andy landed his first exhibition in 1962 in Los Angeles, California in the Ferus Gallery [2]. After coming back to New York, Andy began to experiment with filmmaking because he found it “easier to do.” His first movie to be shown in theaters was Sleep. The film was six hours long of his lover, John Giorno sleeping, which frustrated its viewers because the movie had no plot and was anticlimactic; it was simply a man asleep for six straight hours. It got to the point where people would start screaming, “Wake up!” [2/3] at the screen. One of Andy’s films that are more successful is titled 50 of the Most Attractive People. In this film, Andy simply sat someone down in front of a camera, turned it on, and left it rolling for 15 minutes, leaving the subject staring at the camera. Andy believed that he was capturing who the person truly was through this approach, while also depicting their beauty, which Andy loved to do. He was famous for his quote, “Everyone will be world-famous for fifteen minutes” and Andy certainly made that possible for his actors [2]. After experimenting with the film medium, Andy then shifted to painting. Although he had been painting all his life, after completing and opening his exhibit Flowers in 1965, Andy claimed that he was going to retire as an artist [1]. From there, Andy began to silkscreen, which is what he is most well known for; most of Andy’s popular pieces, such as Marilyn Monroe and the Campbell’s soup can, are from his silkscreen works. Today, Andy’s Campbell’s pieces are worth around 20 million dollars; they were originally worth 100 dollars [2].
"Flowers 66"
On June third of 1968, a woman who had been featured in one of Andy’s films shot him and a friend. Friends of Andy’s claimed that the woman was insane, although they had only met her a few times, and that she was probably jealous of his fame and upset with her limited film time. After being shot, Andy was frequently ill and was unable to produce as much work as he was before. However, a year later, Andy and his assistant founded Interview Magazine in 1969. In Interview, the focus was on the illustrations drawn by Andy and not the interviews themselves. But the older Andy got, the sicker he got and less work was made. In February 1987, Andy went in for surgery on his Gallbladder. The surgery was successful; however, the nurses neglected to look at his medical chart to see that he was allergic to Penicillin and continued to give him the dosage anyway. On February 22, Andy Warhol died at age 58 from an allergic reaction to the Penicillin [2].
Andy Warhol left behind a magnificent legacy as an artist who truly pushed the boundaries of creation and broadened the horizons for future artists, while completely revolutionizing the Pop Art movement. His work posed heavy controversies in the art world, but his eccentric lifestyle and unique perspective made him and his work intriguing. As a photographer, I admire and look up to Andy. His artwork shows that there is no limit on imagination and one should never feel hindered by society's expectations when it comes to creating a masterpiece. Andy often shot simple things, as they are, whether he was shooting abstraction or took a different approach to a simple object how he was going to execute his work, everything was always new and original. When I go to take a photograph, I find myself doing the same. Andy Warhol did not care about what people thought of his work, even if he knew they were right, he still did what he wanted. Andy expressed himself without worrying or being concerned about being judged. Andy Warhol was an incredible artist, and I wish he could still be alive today so I could witness his genius as it happens.
Happy 88th birthday to an artistic legend.
Works Cited
[1] Warhol.org
[2] Workman, Chuck. Superstar. Los Angeles: Marilyn Lewis Entertainment. 1990. Movie.
[3] Bourdon, David. Warhol. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., Publishers. 1989. Print.
[4] Lupton, Ellen and J. Abbott Miller. “Line Art: Andy Warhol and the Commercial Art World of the 1950s” in “Success is a Job in New York” The Early Art and Business of Andy Warhol. Ed. Donna M. Desalvo. New York: Grey Art Gallery and Study Center/ Carnegie Museum of Art. 1989. Print.
[5] Bruce, Stephen. Unpublished interview conducted for the exhibition The Warhol Look. 1977.
