Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol was born on August 6^th 1928 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was an American painter, printmaker, occasional sculptor and film maker who was famous for the visual art movement- Pop art. His work explores the relationship between artistic expressions, celebrity, culture/advertisement which was popular by the 1960s. As a teenager his intentions were to study art education- to become a art teacher. However this then changed when he enrolled in the Carnegie Institute of Technology where he studied commercial art. In 1949 he moved to New York to being a career in magazine illustration. Warhol began to use mechanical techniques to mass produce his images. His interest in popular culture expanded as he began to depict celebrities/newspaper dippings into prints.

One of his famous screen printing stencils was of Marilyn Monroe the reason why he repeated the image was because she was known as an 'icon' which meant everyone knew who she was. For example Michael Jackson is still an icon because he was and still is known as the 'King of Pop' the first person who created the moon walk. The more he repeated the Marilyn Monroe image the more 'iconic' she became. Also since screen printing involves using the stencil more then once using this method helped him create his stencils easily. Warhol wasn't only known for his celebrity stencils but also painting everyday objects and creating continuous stencils with them.

In my opinion I like the way Andy Warhol uses bright colours and makes his work look cartoonic the lines and shapes he uses I guess that's what pop art is about it doesn't have to be real or make sense as long as it relates to something. The way his stencils send out the 'iconic' meaning to people.