Comprensione e interpretazione. TESTO DI AMBITO ARTISTICO
Andy Warhol Biography
1. Andy Warhol is one of the most famous, influential and representative artists in contemporary art and
culture.
2. His work still inspires artists all over the world as his art is very influential since it explored every medium
and it contributed to eliminate the boundaries between high and low culture.
3. He was an innovator, a forerunner, his art anticipated what was to become the future social network
system. He knew how to interrelate all art forms introducing media devices such as the tape-recorder or
the camera.
4. He knew how to combine his talent as a commercial illustrator, graphic artist and painting which
incorporated also photo based techniques. He is a Pop Art artist who made use of every day objects, mass
produced articles such as for instance his famous Campbell’s soup cans.
5. During his college years he started experimenting in art forms. He was a keen reader of celebrity
magazines and comics. He also began inventing personae and changed his real name Warhola into Warhol,
creating an icon of himself.
6. He followed the Pop Art Movement exploring and reinventing it in his own personal way.
7. He started his career in New York as a commercial artist for many internationally famous brands and
magazines; he created window displays for department stores; he was a graphic artist before becoming an
acclaimed painter and artist.
8. Referring to his famous Campbell’s soup cans Warhol said he wanted to paint a symbol of nothing,
something which expressed the essence of nothing and he found it in that consumer object.
9. His most iconic works are his Cambell’s soup cans, his Monroes (line 40) and also the documentaries and
films (such as for instance Screen Tests) and portraits of his friends inside The Factory.
10. His films are now considered avant-garde cinema classics.
Produzione
Opzione 1
When Andy Warhol affirms that Coca-Cola, in some way, unites the poorest and most famous, influential
people as they are consuming exactly the same goods, he is describing, in short, one of the fundamental
aspects of our consumption-based society. The goods we buy and consume have become symbols of who
we are and we inevitably end up by identifying ourselves in them: they represent us, our world, they speak
in our name and describe who we are. The Coca-Cola bottle, for instance, is a worldwide recognizable
object, an icon which can be found in every corner of the world; it is easily attainable by anyone in the
whole world living in China, the USA or Russia and by people belonging to all social classes, from celebrities
down to the poorest members of our contemporary societies. So commercial objects have replaced the
role traditionally accomplished by religion or important social creeds, becoming almost like pagan symbols
of our debased commercial environment. In such a world famous brands or designer clothes have taken on
a value which goes beyond, they represent social belonging and status, an added value. These objects are
social homologizers and those who make use of them can feel they belong to a special group of people.
Young people who should be free are instead often victims of this system and tend to conform to models
and behaviours which are presented as alluring. They tend to wear the same type of clothes, have the same
type of cell phones which end up by becoming iconic symbols rather than pure and simple commodities.
This does not mean we should not be tempted to possess such articles, but this does not mean we should
let ourselves be represented by them or identified in them.
Opzione 2
I have always been fascinated by the magnificent works of Jackson Pollock, the American painter
considered as one of the greatest artists of the world. He is recognized as belonging to the abstract
expressionist movement, but his technique distinguishes him as unique. He liked to place his canvases
directly on the floor so that he could walk around them while working on them: he was famous for
throwing paint on his canvases creating vortexes of colours. His technique also consisted in dipping a stick
into the paint and allowing it to fall on the canvas placed on the floor. Pollock started to produce his
famous “drip paintings” in the late 1940s, giving life to a new way of seeing the modern world. Pollock’s life
had never been easy ever since his early years. He had a difficult childhood and he struggled with
alcoholism for almost all his life. In fact, he died at the age of 44 in a car accident probably caused by his
alcoholism. His greatness lies in his technique, in his radical style which is unique. Peggy Guggenheim had a
strong influence on his career: she invited him to exhibit his works in her famous gallery and she
encouraged him to paint a mural for her home. His peculiar technique of pouring paint magically created a
method that seems to synthesize Impressionism, Surrealism and Cubism.