Meet the artist
Andy Warhol (1928-1987), an artist, painter, sculptor, photographer, and filmmaker, was born Andrew
Warhola in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Slovakian immigrants (figure 1). Do you wonder where Warhol’s
talent comes from? At the age of eight, Warhol contracted a rare disease that rendered him bedridden
for several months. During this time, his mother, who was a talented embroiderer and artist, taught him
how to draw. He also read celebrity magazines and comic books, which later shaped his art.
After graduating from Carnegie Mellon
University, where he studied art, Warhol
became a successful magazine and ad
illustrator. Warhol gained fame for his
whimsical ink drawings for shoe
advertisements (figure 2). In fact, Warhol was
the sole illustrator for the shoe manufacturer,
I. Miller, and created new drawings of shoes
each week for ads in the New York Times. Do
you wonder why he changed the spelling of
his name? On one of his first jobs, his last
name was misspelled as "Warhol" instead of
"Warhola" in the credits. He liked the name
so much, he decided to keep it.
Figure 2
As a budding artist, Warhol wanted to do something new
and different with his art. Wonder how he accomplished
this? Warhol quickly gained fame for his vivid and garishcolored screenprints of world leaders, athletes, and
famous celebrities (figure 3). He also colorfully captured
popular culture in his work, using images of brands like
Coca-Cola, Campbell’s Soup, and other consumer goods.
His silk screening techniques allowed him to repeat the
same basic image on dozens of canvases, resulting in
numerous prints that looked the same, but in contrasting
colors. It is not a surprise that his art studio was named,
The Factory, as the name was a reference to the massproduced nature of his artworks. Warhol saw art as a
product, the same as a production line of Coca-Cola
bottles. Ultimately, Warhol became a leading Pop artist, as
he, like other Pop artists, colorfully captured iconic images
in his art.
Figure 3
STEAMed Magazine
17
April 2016 Edition