Walking onto the fourth floor of the Museum of Modern Art, you will come upon one of the most iconic works of contemporary art. Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans will stare up at you, the repeating series of red and white cans of various flavors more recognizable than almost any other piece in the gallery. Following those will be Gold Marilyn Monroe and Orange Car Crash Fifteen Times, famous painting as well, albeit less so than the soup cans. Warhol is the name most associated with pop art, but in recent weeks has posthumously become associated with a new medium, digital art, as well.
Walking onto the fourth floor of the Museum of Modern Art, you will come upon one of the most iconic works of contemporary art. Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans will stare up at you, the repeating series of red and white cans of various flavors more recognizable than almost any other piece in the gallery. Following those will be Gold Marilyn Monroe and Orange Car Crash Fifteen Times, famous painting as well, albeit less so than the soup cans. Warhol is the name most associated with pop art, but in recent weeks has posthumously become associated with a new medium, digital art, as well.The works displayed in the MoMA were created in Warhol’s signature pop art aesthetic. The pop art movement became prevalent in America the 1960’s in the disciplines of painting, sculpting, and printmaking. The movement is often characterized by images from popular culture and ambiguous claims about mass media and culture that are intended to be interpreted differently by every viewer. It uses elements of mass production and modern technology as well, and is known for mixing high art and low art mediums. Andy Warhol is specifically famous for his work with graphic prints and for silk-screening these images onto canvas.
Just a few short weeks ago, it was announced by the Andy Warhol Museum that original digital artwork done by Andy Warhol was recovered from 1980’s floppy disks from old computer software called Amiga. After seeing a YouTube clip of Warhol digitally creating a portrait of Debbie Harry, a Brooklyn Artist named Cory Arcangel launched a mission to uncover the images that were previously thought to be unable to be retrieved form such old software. A team of artists, museum professionals, and the Carnegie Mellon Computer Club eventually recovered 28 images Warhol had made. According to the official press release distributed by the Warhol Museum, the works vary in detail, from doodles to portraits, and include digitized version of Warhol’s classics such as his soup cans and Marilyn Monroe pictures.
This news puts Warhol on the artistic map now not just as a pioneer of pop art, but as the first artist working in the digital sphere. As Matt Wribcan, the chief archivist at the Warhol Museum told CNN News, “In the images, we see a mature artist who had spent about 50 years developing a specific hand-to-eye coordination now suddenly grappling with the bizarre new sensation of a mouse in his palm held several inches from the screen.” Warhol was always praised for his creativity and willingness to try new methods, and the new images are clear evidence of these traits in the famous artist.
This discovery reflects the progression that took place from canvas and paintbrush to photography, photoshop, and other design programs. Warhol is now seen as a pioneer of the digital artistic movement, one that gains popularity every day as new programs and software are created, and more and more artists move to create digital works. Even though his Campbell’s Soup Cans that is hanging in the MoMA will most likely remain his most iconic work, the digital version of the soup cans painting can shed light on what a forward thinking and creative artist Warhol truly was.