Happy Birthday Andy Warhol. This is the artist that propelled contemporary art to the breaking-point that we know today. He was the zeitgeist artist of the 1960s and 70s who broke away from the strict boundaries dictated by the Abstract Expressionist establishment controlled by critics like Clement Greenberg. Here is a quick biography. Enjoy!

Im afraid that if you look at a thing long enough, it loses all of its meaning. Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol was born Andrew Warhola on August 6, 1928. As a child, Warhol suffered from Sydenham chorea, a neurologicaldisorder commonly known as St. Vitus dance, characterized byinvoluntary movements. When the disorder occasionally kept himhome from school, Warhol would read comics and Hollywoodmagazines and play with paper cutouts. Growing up in Depression-era Pittsburgh, the family had few luxuries, but Warhols parentsbought him his first camera when he was eight years old.

Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe 1967

After graduating from art school with a degree in pictorial design, Warholmoved to New York City to pursue a career as a commercial artist, and hedropped the final a in Warhola. He moved with fellow classmate PhilipPearlstein and created a circle of close-knit friends including college friendLeila Davies Singeles and dancer Francesca Boas. His work firstappeared in a 1949 issue ofGlamourmagazine, in which he illustrated astory called What is Success? An award-winning illustrator throughoutthe 1950s, some of his clients included Tiffany & Co., I. Miller Shoes,Fleming-Joffe, Bonwit Teller, Columbia Records, andVogue.

In 1960, Warhol turned his attention to the pop art movement, whichbegan in Britain in the mid-1950s. Everyday life inspired pop artists, andtheir source material became mass-produced products and commercialartefacts of daily life; commercial products entered into the highly valuedfine art space. In 1961, Warhol created his first pop paintings, which werebased on comics and ads. Warhols 1961Coca-Cola [2]is a pivotal piecein his career, evidence that his transition from hand-painted works tosilkscreens did not happen suddenly. The black and gray composition firstsketched then hand painted is a blend of both pop and abstraction, whichhe turned away from at the beginning of his career before experimentingwith it again in the 1980s.

Warhol turned to perhaps his most notable stylephotographicsilkscreen printingin 1962. This commercial process allowed himto easily reproduce the images that he appropriated from popularculture. Among Warhols first photographic silkscreen works are hispaintings of Marilyn Monroe made from a production still from the1953 filmNiagara. In 1962, he began a large series of celebrityportraits, featuring Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and ElizabethTaylor. Warhol made his series ofCampbells Soup Cansin 1962and exhibited them the same year in his first solo pop art exhibitionat Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles.

In 1963, Warhol began his series ofDeath and Disasterpaintingsthat used images from magazines and newspapers as well aspolice and press photographs of suicides, car crashes, andaccidents as source material. Warhol produced a range of filmsbetween 1963 and 1968, beginning with his first feature-length filmSleep(1963), five hours and twenty-one minutes of poet JohnGiorno asleep. His groundbreaking eight-hour-long silent filmEmpire(1964) features continuous slow motion footage of theEmpire State Building in New York City. In 1966, he made his mostcommercially successful film, the three-hour-long, double-screenThe Chelsea Girls.

In 1964, Warhol moved his studio to a large loft at 231 East 47thStreet in midtown Manhattan. Warhol collaborator Billy Namedecorated the space with silver paint and aluminium foil, and itbecame known as the Silver Factory. It was a creative hub forparties and experimentation, from drug use to music and art. Itspopularity grew quickly, and it attracted a diverse and inclusivecrowd of artists, friends, and celebrities, many of whom posed forshort film portraits. With a stationary Bolex camera, from 196466Warhol made almost 500 of these silent four-minuteScreen Testsplayed back in slow motion.

Warhol was infatuated with Hollywood celebrity and fame sincechildhood. He wrote to movie stars for headshots and fan photos,assembling scrapbooks between 1938 and 1941. In the 1960s, TheFactory became a hangout for artists, musicians, and writers,including Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Truman Capote, and much more.Warhols Superstars, including Edie Sedgwick, Brigid Berlin,Ondine, and Candy Darling, were Factory goers who appeared inhis films and became fixtures in his social life. In the 1970s, Warholwas a regular at the New York disco Studio 54, and he receivedhundreds of portrait commissions from wealthy socialites,musicians, and film stars. He remained in the spotlight in the 1980swith his television work and high-fashion modelling. Warholachieved stardom, and helped others do the same, realizing hisexpression, In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15minutes. Words Courtesy The Warhol

P.S. If this isnt enough excitement for one day, Its also Richard Prince and Howard Hodgkins Birthdays today!

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Happy Birthday Andy Warhol 89 Today Rest In Peace - ArtLyst