Emily Mandev/staff reporter
Andy Warhol was a very influential person in modern days society, he was a leading figure the visual concept of pop art we know today and has changed the way that people saw modern art. Andy grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States and was born on August 6th 1928. Andy was known for his many different coloured prints that he created, one being his 32 paintings of various Campbell’s soup cans.
Andy first blew up when he started illustrating the covers for the popular 1950’s Glamour magazine in his early adulthood which then brought many eyes of the public too start seeing how art can be so commercialized yet still make people smile. He then collaborated with hit band The Velvet Underground to create their album cover for their album titled “Velvet Underground and Nico.”
His movement change the game for modern art by using tactics such as combining high art with consumerism , which brought together a gap between art you would find in a museum and art you would find at a grocery store or in your own home. People were intrigued by Andy’s tactics and techniques in his art because nobody had ever attempted it before.
Warhol’s mediums varied between sculpting and even filmmaking, but the main medium he used in many of his art pieces was silk-screening. Silk-screening was a medium that involved using stencils and mesh covers to print different colours of ink onto a sheet of paper. Andy used this method for many of his artworks such as his 1972 print titled “Mao,” a print he had created depicting an image of the former Chairman of the People’s Republic of China Mao Zedong, along with others like his “Marilyn” print in 1967, which many believed was one of his most well-known pieces.
With all that’s been said Andy’s reputation wasn’t as great as it seemed to the rest of the public, On June 3, 1968, radical feminist Valerie Solanas shot Andy Warhol and Mario Amaya who was a curator in Warhol’s studio. Warhol nearly died yet pulled through in the end while Mario Amaya did not face any severe injury. Solanas was sentenced to three years in prison after this incident.
However in later years when going into surgery, doctor Thorbjarnarson had found multiple obstructions in Warhol’s organs and was faced with having to do more than he anticipated. The surgery failed and Warhol died at age 58 on February 22nd 1987.
Warhol’s image is still very well known and beloved to this day, his more well-known pieces art held in the Museum of Modern Art in New York city.
sources: