Mass Culture & Advertisements
“An artist is someone who produces things that people don’t need to have, but that he – for some reason – thinks it would be a good idea to give them” Warhol summarizes art, ads, artists and admen.
Sections
01
Pop Culture
The Pop Art Movement followed the popularity of the Abstract Expressionists during the late 1940s, which influenced not only the work of painters who filled their canvases with fields of color and abstract forms but also those who attacked their canvases with vigorous gestural expression. Influenced by mass media, advertising, comics, and consumer products, pop art began in Britain in the 1950s and was joined by American artists such as Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. Warhol followed and made his movement into Pop Art in the 60s.
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The Pop art movement sought to elevate popular culture to the level of fine art. Perhaps owing to the incorporation of commercial images, Pop art has become one of the most recognized styles of art.
02
Entertainment
Warhol adopted the technique of silk-screening (a process by which silk is used to create a pattern or stencil which can be reproduced over and over again). By using this process, he was able to produce paintings faster. The silk-screened portraits of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Chairman Mao of China are some of his most recognized works.
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Through the 1960s Warhol continued with his silk-screened paintings, which were aimed at viewers to look at something for longer than they usually would.
03
Advertisements
In the 1960s, Warhol became recognized as a fine artist. However, he continued to take commissions for commercial projects throughout his years as a successful fine artist.
As Warhol pursued his career in advertising in New York, the business revenues skyrocketed, and Warhol became one of the highest paid freelancers of the era.