Andy Warhol created an enormous body of work that spanned every available medium, contributing to the collapse of boundaries between high and low culture and elevating his own person to the level of a popular icon.
Born as Andrew Warhola, Warhol emerged from the poverty and obscurity of an Eastern European immigrant family in Pittsburgh to become a charismatic icon of high circles of New York. Upon his arrival in Manhattan in the 19 where he came to pursue the world of art, he began working on Madison Avenue, soon becoming one of New York’s most popular advertising artists.
Moving from commercial art into the equally competitive world of fine art in the 1960s, Warhol pioneered the photo silkscreen process which allowed him to produce seemingly endless variations that question our faith in images and the value of cultural icons. Bringing popular culture subjects into the exclusive salons of high art, he spearheaded the emergence and development of the Pop Art movement.
Having omnivorous curiosity and willingness to experiment with non-traditional art-making techniques, Warhol created a diverse body of work composed of paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, films, videos, and photographs which anticipated the most profound effects and issues of our current digital age. Some of the persistent themes that the artist addressed in his oeuvre include consumerism, sex, death, politics, and identity.
Over thirty years after his death, the work of Andy Warhol remains ever-present and instantly recognizable, continuing to permeate popular culture. In addition to being a 20th-century titan, he proved to be a seer of the 21st century as well.
Andy Warhol was born in 1928 in Pittsburg. He spent his entire career in New York, where he died in 1987 following complications from a gallbladder surgery. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts was established the same year, in accordance with Warhol’s will.
