Andy Warhol- self portrait with camouflage

'I suppose I have a really loose interpretation of 'work', because I think that just being alive is so much work at something you don't always want to do.'


Andy Warhol





We watched a quite long video clip featuring Andy Warhol last week. You may ask who Andy Warhol is, so let me tell you a little bit about this talented man. Born as Andrew Warhola, he was an American artist who involved with many arts fields including painting, writing, movie directing, and others. He was known in diverse social circles that included bohemian street people, distinguished intellectuals, Hollywood celebrities and wealthy aristocrats. It was him who coined the phrase ‘15 minutes fame’ which refers to the quickly exhausted limelight that celebrity are subjected to. Upon my research my conclusion of this man with Social Disease is an eccentric, a genius with a twisted mind.





The video clip is about his paintings. His work are mostly influenced by pop culture. His specialty is screen prints, by which technique he produced his series of Campbell soup cans, Coke bottles, and pop icon portraits such as Madonna. For most of my classmates they just could not understand one bit why are they watching the video clip, yawning with bored indifference at the screen. Some of them are restless, doing something else. In contrast I was enthralled by Andy Warhol works. the subject or the different colours they were done with did not interest me. All the while I was thinking what was going on in that man's mind all the while he do his paintings. His subjects are all common everyday items, but somehow he saw something different in these things, making them larger than their existence itself, putting them in focus.

I think he see himself in these commonplace items. Even though others think of him as a celebrity, he always think of himself as an ordinary man. As he was quoted to say,'Why do people think artists are special? It's just another job.' Perhaps he got bored with the attention people always give to grand things, longings for luxurious items, and therefore try to shift their attention to things people often overlooked in their haste, forgot to appreciate and be thankful on their existence. Somehow this intention mirrors his self. He was himself like an abandoned child seeking for attention.

His painting that I like the most is the painting of a mother and child. The mother embracing the child protectively blanketing the child with sheer love while child hung onto her and stare out to the audience. I could picture the child in Andy Warhol, showing his affection towards his beloved mother, his love ablaze through the canvas, giving the feeling the immortality.

Much like eyes are the window to a person's heart, I believe paintings are the window to a person's soul. Intentional or not we leave a part of ourselves in our work of art, our self-expression. Therefore, I think by looking at his paintings we may have a glimpse at who Andy Warhol truly was.