Graphic Design
When asked why he chose a soup can, he answered, “I have the same lunch every day for 20 years.”
Sections
01
Commerical Products
Warhol recognized the impact that brands such as Coca Cola, Campbell’s soup had on our lives, and created such distinct imagery that graphic artists, packaging professionals and brand marketing team of the 1940s and 1950s relied on. Warhol focused on packaging, but the entirety of his work alluded to consumer culture and mass production. His work eventually shifted from iconic brands to iconic celebrities, then to a fascination with violence and disasters, and finally to the abstract.
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Of Coca-Cola, Warhol said, “You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke too.”
02
Pop Art
Warhol was inspired by things that were modern and changed quickly. He began painting Coke bottles and comic strips, but finally made his name with his paintings of Campbell’s soup cans. By combining high art with consumerism in order to bring modern art to the masses, Warhol successfully bridged the gap between the two. Warhol’s focus on consumer goods and pop culture icons, suggests a life in celebration of the aspects of American culture that is represented in his work.
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“Making money is art and working is art, and good business is the best art.”
03
Warhol's Influence
Warhol’s not only inspired the pop art movement, as well as advertising commercial products, his influence runs deeper than that; he also inspired the graphic design world. The iconic brands used within supermarkets, branding and package design allowed these brands to be repurposed as cultural icons. In 1964, he produced a sculpture using Brillo packaging. It is notable that Warhol drew inspiration from CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) processing and packaging lines which created these works in a factory. Warhol used this process to produce the silk-screen paintings. The repetitive nature of his imagery reflect shelf store displays of mass-produced products.