Andy Warhol 
Andy Warhol is among the few artist personalities that have remained in the world’s history. Their artistic works have continued to be celebrated and have stood the test of time. Andy Warhol played a vital role in the building and advancement of the art and painting industries. He started at a time when the skill was unpopular hence his works are original and contain a lot of creativity. Many artists has tried to copy his works but have not reached the threshold. Therefore, it is right to say that Andy Warhol was a genius. People still buy some of the paintings he made, and this is likely to go on even with the next generation. This essay is in pursuit of discussing Andy’s personal biography, starting with his childhood to his death. It further discusses the style of his works and how he performed in the industry.
Andy Warhol was born in the year 1928 August 6th in Pennsylvania. His family were immigrants in Pennsylvania in a city called Pittsburgh. He lived in a cosmopolitan environment whereby industries and factories of all sorts were booming. Therefore, Andy Warhol grew in middle-class life. However, he really admired the celebrity lifestyles and the advertisement world. However, he had some health challenges at the age of 8 when a fatal nervous system illness that made him bedridden for a long time. Things got better with time and resumed his ordinary life. Some years later, he faced another challenge when his father passed away. It is, therefore, evident that Andy’s childhood was not that smooth. Andy went to an art school whereby he learned the skill of making designs and later graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in the year 1949. Thereafter, he went to the New York to advance his career that had become a lifetime passion. In the Ney York, he secured a job with Glamour Magazine, which gave him a platform of exercising his career to the fullest. Consequently, he became one of the most renown commercial artists in the 50s. He earned several awards at that time. Later he started focusing more on paintings hence coming up with ‘pop art’. This was an aspect that concentrated on the large-scale production of commercial commodities. He continued with the hardworking spirit that saw him open an outgoing art studio in 1964. The studio boomed and became the best cultural hotspot where celebrities and the wealthiest spent their free time. However, Andy was shot in 1968, and this occurrence almost ended his career. He, however, recovered after some time. Andy died in the year 1987 February 22nd from a gallbladder illness.
Warhol’s work was comic and very decorative. He used the whimsical skill that involved the use of rubber stamps and blotted line technique. Another technique he used was to getting pictures from magazines and transferring them in wet ink either as paintings or drawings. At some point, he made the images in a loose style with ink dripping from them as it is in gesture painting. Whereas, he would make some with some precise edges that were hard as they had no expressive features, he named them the ‘no comment’ paintings. These styles, however, upgraded with time because earlier on, he would use only his hands to do all the work. As he progressed, he incorporated technology whereby he was able to transfer the paintings photographically on the silkscreen. The technique made him produce high-quality work. This improvement occurred at around 1962. Additionally, he employed assistants who abetted him with some of the work. He also made remarkable portraits of Liz Taylor and Marilyn Monroe. This occurred between 1963 and the 70s. In the 70s and 80s, he ventured into advertising more and advertised for large firms like painting the Coca-Cola bottles. Throughout his entire life, he managed to produce about 60 films, published several books and worked in both photography and television. He looked up to Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, who were bold artists too. He would look at their works trying to figure out how he would merge their idea with his commercial advertising one. Other art type appreciate the Andy’s artistic work as they depicted the ordinary elements of life in a unique way. He presented the images in a comic manner and the work is appreciated to date.
His initial paints were exclusively done by use of hands, brush, and the ink. Most of these paintings depicted the various elements that existed in the society. Furthermore, he would use his painting skill to portray his emotions and feelings on some issues. The Image of Merlyn Monroe after her suicide in 1962 Andy is used as a good example of his initial works. The image was beautiful but had not been advanced with the emerging technology. He took the celebrity’s image from other sources and drew it a fresh using his skill and attracted millions of people. The image is still there up to date and people continue purchasing such for memories. The image had been painted in such a way that its color made it outstanding. The early portraits were mostly black and white, every aspect had to appear as either black or white but later advanced to more colors. However, For instance, the Monroe one the hair is black and a perfect mixture of some yellow. There is also the aspect of makeup like the light-blue eye shadow, the red lipstick portraying them as very attractive. Then there are the red earrings that perfectly matched with her top. Therefore, the use of color and brush painting remained beautiful even with the coming of technology. Later, he started to shift focus from his feelings to advertising. Most of the images drawn in the late sixties depict the aspect of marketing as he was making everything commercial. For instance, the Campbell Tomato box was the maroon on the upper half and white on the lower half. Furthermore, it contained advanced graphics on the writing of the words. He used a mixture of colors to write the various words like the name of the product and a different color for the behalf of the company. He also used different fonts and typefaces as the technology had rapidly advanced. He decided to major on the advertisement because most people were getting attracted to his work on adverts. Furthermore, the advertisements continued to make him a celebrity, a life he always admired and wished for. This is because he was dealing with famous companies like the Coca-Cola.
In conclusion, Andy Warhol left a legacy in the art and painting industry. He set a significant pace for the aspiring artist by showing them the required quality of work in the industry. Furthermore, his passion for the artwork is a critical motivator to those new in the industry. His images contained significant information for that was relevant to explaining the various phenomenon. Apart from creativity, his images also played a crucial role in explaining various historical aspects. I think that Warhol’s marketing capabilities also played a significant role in his self-promotion as an artist. Many people believe that Warhol was a shrewd marketer who embraced paintings to captivate his prospective clients. However, the choice of subjects in various settings also contributed to his success. Therefore, it would be liberal to conserve the paintings to serve the future generation in terms of idea generation and to maintain the memory of Andy Warhol as a legend.
