Andy Warhol, an artist at the peak of his career during the 1960’s, created signature techniques that became recognizable to all. He introduced the method of silkscreening—taking an existing image and overlaying it with his own painting. The bold colors, crisp lines and repetition of an image became the new wave of art, dubbed “Pop Art”. About 45 works by Warhol, and about 100 works by others who he influenced are now on exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, titled “Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years” and is broken up into five different thematic rooms.
The first room, “Daily News: From Banality to Disaster”, explores the fascination Warhol found with everyday objects and the American consumerism of the 60’s. The room is a pristine white in contrast to the paintings on the walls. The first few things that stand out are the famous Brillo boxes, the canvas filled with Coca-Cola bottles, and of course, the Campbell’s soup can—all signature works of Warhol. But there are a few works that I don’t recognize. A clay vase with the Coca-Cola logo painted on it. A chainsaw that says Chanel. A larger than life box of Marlboros. These are the contemporary works that display the same idea as Warhol’s soup cans: the culture of American consumerism. This room also includes works such as an entire series of silkscreened images of a car crash that represent Warhol’s fascination with death and disaster.
Familiar faces greet me in the second room. Marilyn’s hazy smile, Elvis in triplicate with his jaw set as he points a gun, and even Warhol himself. These are part of the second room: “Portraiture: Celebrity and Power”. Warhol’s portraiture of the famous figures highlights the continuing fad we have today of tabloids, and that everyone should have his “15 minutes of fame”, as Warhol would put it. Contemporary artists continue this style with works on display, such as a Michael Jackson sculpture or a painting of Liza Minnelli.
The third room, “Queer Studies: Shifting Identities”, delves into the importance Warhol had on symbolizing the issues of gender and sexuality in the 60’s and 70’s and the different types of queer Warhol brought to the era. It explores identity and the fluidity of gender. Displayed works include silkscreened self-portraits of Warhol as well as other contemporaries.
My personal favorite, “Consuming Images: Appropriation, Abstraction, and Seriality”, is the theme of the fourth room. The wallpaper has transformed from the simplistic white of the previous rooms to pink silkscreen cows lined up in an endless grid pattern. There are silver, rectangular balloons suspended on the ceiling, bouncing around every time one sinks down. This room explores the abstract work of Warhol—his use of pre-existing sources and his pattern of repetition influences contemporaries to do the same.
The fifth and final room, “No Boundaries: Business, Collaboration, and Spectacle”, examines Warhol’s interest in film-making, publishing, and music. Warhol was a producer for the band “Velvet Underground” and created the cover art for their album—a picture of a silkscreen banana. He also liked to shoot abstract films. Such works included eight hours of footage of a man sleeping, forty-five minutes of a man eating a mushroom, or seven hours of footage of the Empire State building that plays on a loop at the exhibit. This room also includes how Warhol creates an environment that completely envelops the viewer. His silkscreened canvas of flowers influences contemporaries to create works that mirror those of Warhol’s.
After going through the entire exhibit, I can now see how Warhol truly shaped the modern definition of art and fame. He would take simple everyday objects, call it art, and get rich. Today with Twitter and Facebook, everyone thinks they are an artistic genius and share it with the world. We take pictures on our phones, make it dark and brooding with Instagram, so when we post it on Facebook and call it art, total strangers will “like” it, and comment “<3 (;”, instantly making anyone in the world of social media “famous”. The themes that Warhol introduced with Pop Art are embedded in today’s mindset, connecting with the people who see the exhibit (assuming that they are actually paying attention to the exhibit, rather than staring at their phone).
Warhol’s work seems to overshadow that of his contemporaries, and this enjoyable and educational exhibit portrays the influence Warhol created on modern art, and how it has left its mark on modern culture.