Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola was born on 6 August 1928 in Oakland.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania into a Byzantine Catholic family. His parents were
Slovakian immigrants and much of this heritage was instilled throughout his
childhood. At the age of eight, Warhola contracted Chorea, a disease affecting
the nervous system. Due to this, he was bed-ridden and his mother taught him to
draw at this time. At fourteen, his father passed away because of having a
jaundiced liver; he didn’t attend the funeral because of being so distraught.
In 1949, Warhola got a Bachelor of Fine Arts and moved to
New York, dropping the ‘a’ at the end of his surname to become known as Warhol.
He worked for Glamour magazine and became one of the most successful commercial
artists of the 1950’s. He debuted the concept of Pop art, which is the mass
production of commercial goods. In 1964, he opened his own art studio which was
named “The Factory “. In 1968, Warhol
was shot by an aspiring writer and feminist and was seriously injured. While
recovering, he spent weeks in New York hospital and went onto publish books in
the 1970’s like The
Philosophy of Andy Warhol.
In the piece “Camouflage”, Warhol uses acrylic paint and a silkscreen.
In his other work, he also uses a blotted line technique and rubber stamps. He
depicts everyday consumer goods like Campbell’s soup and Coca-Cola. In
“Camouflage” there are 4 silkscreen prints of camouflage lined up horizontally.
From left to right, traditional camo colours are used, followed by red, pink
and white, then blue, grey and yellow, then dark red, dark blue, blue and
off-white.
The form of “Camouflage” is 2D and each print is 1830mm x 1830mm. There
is a strong contrast between darker and lighter colours in this piece. The far
left print has colours such as forest, avocado, banana and obsidian. The
left-middle print is red, coral and goldenrod, the right-middle is carribean,
splash, yellow ochre and shadow. Finally, the far right is ivory, crimson, deep
azure and violet. The work has a smooth texture as it is a silkscreen print
with acrylic paint, this gives it a sleek finish.
Multiple prints allow multiple colours to be used, along with acrylic
paint. As the prints are arranged
horizontally, they are viewed left to right as this is what we naturally do.
This also occurs because the eyes are drawn to the first print as is it
something that we recognise as it is in traditional camouflage colours. As you
look along, the colours get further from reality. Repeating patterns appeared
to interest Warhol. By varying the colours of the camouflage, the military
symbolism is removed and emphasies the idea of hiding more. Warhol was known
for hiding his identity, for example his homosexuality when he was younger. He
also wore makeup and wigs to cover any of his personal insecurities. He was
also known for being quite closed, this was shown in his interviews where he
would give one word replies or short responses.
I have been influenced by this idea of camouflage and hiding. I have
been collaging photographs of my Dad’s service in the army in the shape of
camouflage, to form objects like trousers and broken bottles. I have been using
black and white to create more tone like Warhol does. However, I am going to
look at creating more tone by using strong contrasts between dark and light colour.
I am looking at the idea of hiding by having different backgrounds and using
the camo-shaped photographs to cover parts of this. I have used painted
backgrounds in colour and white, I have also worked onto flat card and
corrugated card. The corrugated card gives more texture than Warhol’s prints
but the amount of dimension this gives interests me. Warhol’s work has inspired
me to think about the deeper meaning of hiding behind camouflage and this is
what I intend to explore.
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