Andy Warhol was a leader in the Pop Art movement
Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was a world-famous artist who rose to fame during the middle of the 20th century and was a leader in the Pop Art movement. His works are instantly recognizable, from paintings of Campbell's Soup cans to recolored silkscreens of famous people, and are among the most valuable pieces of art in the world. Because of his celebrity, artistic ability and the people he drew into his circle, Warhol was able to influence many aspects of art and culture.
Pop Art
Andy Warhol was the foremost artists in Pop Art movement, which took images that were traditionally commercial and transformed them into the art world. His most famous works of this kind were his paintings of Coca-Cola bottles and Campbell's Soup cans, and sculptures of Brillo boxes. Debuting in 1962, these works reflected and influenced other prominent artists of the era, including Roy Lichtenstein, who painted in the comic book style of commercial art, and Jasper Johns, who used a repeating American flag motif in his work. Warhol's Pop Art was realistic in nature, with exact replicas of packaging, repeated over and over with some variations in color.
Filmmaking
Andy Warhol introduced some areas of avant garde filmmaking during the 1960s, including films that focused on a single subject or action for a long period of time. Among those films was "Empire," which is eight hours of footage of the Empire State Building and "Sleep," which is a film of poet John Giorno sleeping. His film "Chelsea Girls" in 1966 introduced the technique of two films being projected simultaneously, with two different stories being shown in tandem.
Celebrity as Art
Among Andy Warhol's most famous sayings was "In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes." This reflected Warhol's idea of celebrity as an art form. Warhol himself transformed from an art-world figure into a celebrity through his association with movie stars and society (at places like Studio 54), feeding the news and information outlets he believed fame would eventually come to everyone. Warhol's phrase is often repeated now because of the rise of reality television where people who used to be unknown are now famous because of their brief appearances on TV.
Art Collective
Andy Warhol opened The Factory in 1962 and it became an art collective, introducing the idea of an open space where artists of different mediums could collaborate on projects, including helping Warhol produce some of his own works. Among the artists who emerged from The Factory were musician Lou Reed and his band The Velvet Underground, as well as personalities who Warhol called his "Superstars," including model Edie Sedgwick. The Factory remained open until 1968.
