Term Paper on "Boundary of Art Andy Warhol"

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Master of Mixing Art and Design

Over the course of the 20th century, commercial design emerged as a vital and highly influential aspect of both design and art. And key to the rise in importance of commercial design was Andy Warhol, whose art was influenced by commercial work and in turn proved to be a substantial influence on commerce. While many artists and critics consider Andy Warhol to be nothing more than a commercial designer sans artistry, others argue that Warhol's Pop Art was as much art as "simply" design, and an enterprise that enriched both traditions. In this paper I examine one of the key questions that Warhol's work (and philosophy) raise: Can design (or an amalgam of art and design) that has as its main goal making money also be defined as art? Warhol's work can be seen at the heart of the debate on where to draw the line between commercial design and fine art and so an examination of his work will help us understand how exactly we should define art that brings in the money (Davies 119).

Before beginning to examine the aesthetic and philosophical questions raised by Warhol's art, I would like to summarize briefly the moment in art history that gave rise to this style of art. In some sense all art can be seen as a response to the art that came before it and so any discussion of style should properly begin with the Neolithic artists who painted their visions on the walls of the Lascaux caves (Davies 74). However, for the sake of brevity and focus, I will begin with Abstract Expressionism. Abstract Expressionism rose in the years after World War II, becoming the dominant form of painting in the early 1960s before fading away rather abruptly. The artists of this m
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ovement were rather loosely connected, but they were united in two important ideas -- that art should be nonrepresentational and that the process of making art should be essentially improvisational (Sandler 17). Art should come directly from the heart and soul of the artist who should not (at least ideally, of course) be concerned with anything monetary. Their art was a distinct -- and arguably even violent -- break from the representational work that had dominated the artworld in the years leading up to World War II.

Pop Art was at least as aesthetically and philosophically violent a break in the opposite direction, bringing the representative form very firmly back to the center of the artistic enterprise. While Abstract Expressionism can look like little more than splatters and smears (to either the uneducated eye or the eye that looks for art with a different narrative), Pop Art is rooted absolutely in the centrality of the image (Madoff 17). Pop Art -- and there are no more archetypical representations of this style than Warhol's Campbell soup cans and Marilyn Monroe images -- used as its building blocks scenes from everyday life and the most common of objects (such as Warhol's choice of a Brillo pad).

Pop Artists like Warhol used both traditional artistic techniques to bring these mundane images to life as well as using techniques such as silkscreening that were at the time considered to be more properly the realm of commercial enterprise. Pop Artists often used images from the most common and indeed popular (and arguably populist) forms of expression, including comic books, the movies, and television (Warhol 81). While Abstract Expressionists tended to style themselves very much in the mode of the heroic artist, Pop Artists allied themselves as much with the creators of mass entertainment (and mass production) as they did with "The Artist" (Sandler 128).

But why did Pop Artists do this? Why did they essentially split their loyalty (or hedge their bets) between High and Low Culture, between art and commerce? Both cynics and conservatives are inclined to answer because that was where the money was, and it was true that Warhol did not suffer financially because of his artistic choices (Madoff 268). But the truth about what drew Warhol and other Pop Artists to incorporate the mundane image and the slickness of Madison Avenue is a much more complicated one. While it is no doubt true that Pop Artists wanted to make money, they also wanted to make art, and their choices of subject as well as medium, technique, and style were calculated to allow them to do both at the same time.

Warhol and other Pop Artists were attracted to the representational in no small measure because (like so many artists in the post-Renaissance West), they wanted to rebel against what had come before them (Madoff 279). Just as Abstract Expressionists had rejected the ordinary images so beloved by the Dadaists, Pop Artists gleefully rejected the Abstract Expressionists' rejection of the ordinary and representational. This impetus had nothing (or at least very little) to do with making money but rather arose out of a long artistic tradition though which each generation defined itself and matured through the process of opposition to what had come directly before it.

This is an essential point. If Warhol and other Pop Artists had been interested solely in making the most money possible (and thereby aligning themselves exclusively with the world of commercial design), I believe that they would have picked prettier and more sentimental images, which are so very easy to sell. But there are no puppies, no softly lit maidens, no flights of birds at dawn. Instead, Warhol and his contemporaries chose to incorporate images that almost necessarily had a more limited audience. This is primarily an artistic choice, not primarily a commercial one (Madoff 61).

Pop Art rejected the abstract, non-representational nature of the art that had come before them, they also rejected in many ways the concept of the artist that had been championed by Abstract Expressionist painters such as Jackson Pollock. Pollock's work -- like that of his co-Abstract Expressionists -- is almost intentionally inaccessible. While there is nothing inherently wrong in creating art that few people will be able to appreciate or to enjoy, there is nothing inherently wrong in doing the opposite of this (Davies 24). However, Warhol and other Pop Artists were engaged in a task that was actually more complicated than either the anti-aestheticism of Abstract Expressionism or the lucid, lambent beauty of Impressionism. Warhol used images that were easily recognized (and therefore easy to "read" in some senses) but then asked (even arguably required) that their audiences reinterpret these images neither as pop culture nor as commerce but rather as art.

This brings us to a question so far (in this paper) both unasked and unanswered: What is art? Like pornography, art tends to be something that we cannot define but recognize when we see it. Warhol and other Pop Artists made it very difficult to define their work as either art or not-art (a category that obviously includes commercial design among other genres). When we look at a piece like Warhol's Brillo Pads (especially if we see them in a museum), we are forced to ask ourselves not simply if this piece of work is art, but more generally what is art at all? Warhol's Brillo boxes fail what is the most common definition of art, which is an object that is beautiful. They also (at least arguably) fail the artistic test of being appealing. But they do ask us to reexamine our relationship between ourselves, a particular object, and the material world in general (as well as to the history of the art object). It is by this last definition, or understanding, of art that qualifies Pop Art as art and Warhol as an artist. Pop Art brings out both passion and philosophy in its viewers, and thus must (I argue) be defined… READ MORE

Quoted Instructions for "Boundary of Art Andy Warhol" Assignment:

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Title: The Boundary of *****Art*****: Andy Warhol

Thesis:

While many artists and critics in the art community consider Andy Warhol to be nothing more than a commercial designer, Andy Warhol, who created a whole new form of pop media commentary, is an artist who drew coexistence of both commerce and art.

Intro:

Commercial design has emerged as very important and influential design in the 20th century. While many artists and critics in the art community consider Andy Warhol to be nothing more than a commercial designer, Andy Warhol, who creates a whole new form of pop media commentary and draws coexistence of both commerce and art, is an artist. However, there is some controversy about whether commercial design that has the purpose of making money is *****art***** or not and Andy Warhol, a famous commercial designer of the 20th century is at the center of the controversy.

Body:

1. Different ideas about essence of *****art*****

- Despite the fact that there are many opinions about the essence of art, art production can be a kind of job.

2. Andy Warhol is an artist who creates and tries new things

- The examples of new try for work

- Creating from commercial design to art

3. It is wrong to criticize the use of art for commercial value

- Both commerce and art coexist

Conclusion:

Andy Warhol, who sublimates commercial design in art, is an artist and a commercial designer.

The Boundary of *****Art*****: Andy Warhol

Gihun Park

Introduction to Design Studies

Christine Ritok.

Artists who freed themselves from Abstract Expressionism tried to show popular images and chose television, comic books, and magazines of popular media to expand for commercial art that was appeared in social environments by mass production and mass communication. *****In the later 1950s, Abstract Expressionism, which had controlled the trend of art about ten years, ceded to a generation of artists who experienced popular media: they were artists of Pop Art.***** Abstract Expressionism is *****a movement in art associated above all with New York in the decade or so after the Second World and which is seen to have had its starting point in the work of the American painter Jackson Pollock.***** Pop art was the popular art of consumer culture that was made by capitalistic society and Commercial design has emerged as very important and influential design in the twentieth century. However, if the function of commerce is added, art works can be traded and bring social participation of a large population of people, dealing a heavy blow to the essence and value of fine art; but, the range of art shouldn*****t be limited for creation. Even though Pop art was *****art***** of a new form that is adjusted for the period, there is a controversy about whether commercial design that has purpose for money is *****art***** and Andy Warhol (1923 *****“ 1987), a famous commercial designer of the twentieth century is at the center of this controversy. While many artists and critics in the art community consider Andy Warhol to be nothing more than a commercial designer, Andy Warhol who creates a whole new form of pop media commentary and draws coexistence of both commerce and art is an artist.

1. Different ideas about essence of *****art*****

Warhol*****s work should be considered *****art***** because his work was tried to create the new function of *****art*****. Despite the fact that there are many opinions about the essence of art, art can be a kind of job. If the essence of art is approached with a fixed idea, Andy Warhol was not an artist but a marketing professional. However, art has creation which involves exploitation because artists give their own means for their works and they always want to create new ones; artists use new materials and expressions to find new things from the original work. When it comes to the essence of art, the art might be separated from money but the money that is earned by the ability and talent of artists is used for another creative works; so, artists cannot be separated from money. Actually, in the art tradition, money was an indispensable function of commission from patrons of a few specific classes who has desire for great works. In this way, Andy Warhol solved the little dream of customers who want to get art works using mass production of *****art*****. Even though artists create works that look similar, they have different inclinations, purposes, and thoughts. Artists who have a purpose for business should make works that customers want. This is consumerism. The design that is made by customers***** demands can also be a kind of ability of an artist for customers. For example, *****it is firmly true that although Warhol studied Fine Art in Pittsburgh, he was quite interested in advertising and its mechanisms even as a student.***** In spite of the fact that Warhol was a successful illustrator in commercial art, he wanted to create new work using mass-produced methods, silk screen of illustration; he chose to use the necessities of life in the mass-produced era. Therefore, Andy Warhol made new perspective that has combination of both *****art***** and design.

2. Andy Warhol is an artist who creates and tries new things

One of the most important things about *****art***** is creation and trying of new ideas. Andy Warhol made art from ordinary objects; his paintings shows quintessential images of the era as repeating and a great number of popular images which comes from modern times. Eventually, while he produced art work repeatedly through the mechanical method of silk screen, he broke from traditional art and changed the idea of the traditional artist and also widely expanded the range between art and artist. While Andy Warhol was still living with his mother, he started a work studio which changed locations several times. *****This new address soon became a favored meeting place for the artists, actors, dropouts and photographers that Warhol knew, as well as for other members of the glitterati.***** In the studio, a lot of works were created. Andy Warhol expressed images of the canned goods and Coca Cola, ordinary products for repetitive or reproducible image. John Coplans say that *****the money, Coke, airmail and S&H stamps, glass label and Campbell*****s soup can paintings enforce the issue of multiplicity of the image itself, which as a motif is endlessly repeated.*****

Image 1: Campbell's Soup Can, 1962 Image 2: 5 Coca-Cola Bottles, 1962

By drawing products that people use often, the formality of traditional art was broken for trying novelty and it had the effect that it accomplished concern and the participation of mass society in art. *****The first Campbell*****s soup can images, for example, were made with the help of an image projected in magnified from onto the canvas, and it is notable that any too great detail was altogether avoided (the medallion seen at the center of the label on the can should contain an inscription, but in Warhol*****s version it is empty).*****

Image 3: Marylin Monroe, 1967 Image 3: Double Elvis, 1963

The face of Marylin Monroe is sequentially arrayed and was independently made by silk screen, and the work was not perfectly painted colors for getting a picturesque feeling: Andy Warhol had developed a method in which original products and the specific face of famous star are repeated and arrayed using the power of machines. The pictures of his pop art that include famous people, Marylin Monroe and Elvis in particularly, are rendered in popular, provocative, and beautiful color. *****Ever since the Marilyn series, Warhol has always used photographic silkscreens.***** The method of silk screen that is used to make prints in quantity is his main method and connects important key points between the business activity of a capitalistic age that gets profit by making products in large quantities and selling Warhol*****s work. Therefore, he narrowed the boundary between traditional art and popular art.

3. It is wrong to criticize the use of art for commercial value

When a creative new idea is backed up, both commerce and art coexist. Society was suddenly changed by mass media and art should also change following the trend of the times. Various sources and materials appeared in mass media implies that art can be expanded more than before. Artists need much more money for new forms and work; so, money is essential while artists are working. Andy Warhol said *****I want to be a machine***** and *****paintings are like stock a dealer is like a broker.***** So, *****art***** should think like business. However, there is not a patron anymore who patronizes artists for his own satisfaction. These days, companies turn up patronage for artists and there is marketing and investment of companies at the back of the patronage; monetary value made commercialism of art. People want to appreciate and possess a new form of art and sometimes they invest for the value. This is a natural result of capitalism, an economic system that is controlled by money for pursuit of profits, and commercialism, that has as its purpose the pursuit of profits, period. Development of commercial art brought social participation of art and productive value. If *****art***** has social participation, artists can have another productive value because of not only pure desire about *****art***** but also craving of work that considers economic activity.

It is firmly true that works of Andy Warhol are very different with fine art that includes susceptibility and message: so, some critics say that Warhol*****s work is not fine art but design. However, the achievement of Andy Warhol in modern art was commercial conception and expanding the sphere of art. He broke down the boundary between fine art and commercial art and showed art market through marketing philosophy of business art. *****Warhol's art was never simply a reproduction of a commercial product, which was a criticism made of his work during his lifetime. Years later we can consider Warhol's art as one with a distinct style and radical choice of subject matter and one which has withstood the test of time*****. Therefore, Andy Warhol, who found an art market that nobody had recognized, was a cultural marketer and artist.

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