ANDY WARHOL is one of the most famous artists from America. From his soup to his hair, he is an art legend. He was also a director and producer.
Andy Warhol (born Andrew Warhola 6 August 1928 – 22 February 1987) was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. He was famous for exploring popular culture in his work, using brands like Coca Cola and Campbell’s Soup (which was one of his favourite things to eat).
Warhol liked to use bright colours and silk screening techniques to mass-produce artworks based on photographs of celebrities, like his silkscreen prints of famous people like Marilyn Monroe. He also used repeated images and blocks of colour, like the above painting of Marilyn Monroe.
In the 1950s, Warhol worked as a freelance children’s-book illustrator while sharing a Lexington Avenue apartment with his mother and 25 cats. He apparently never intended to host an entire cat colony in his apartment, but the head count continued to grow after he decided to find a companion for his first cat, Hester.
In the 1960’s Warhol decided to paint daily objects that were mass produced like Coke bottles and Campbell’s Soup cans. He also started his art studio called The Factory where he used workers to mass produce prints and posters.
UNUSUAL FACTS ABOUT ANDY WARHOL
- He loved cats and made many images of them. He also made films and one was called Sleep which showed nothing but a man sleeping for six hours!
- In 1968 he nearly died after being shot three times by a mad woman named Valerie Solanas.
- He was a religious man and did volunteer work at homeless shelters.
- He never married but he did tell people that he had a wife.
- The portable tape recorder that he carried everywhere to record his conversations.
“Art is what you can get away with.” Andy Warhol
He died in 1987 after a gall bladder operation.
*Above research-based information and images are from various websites.