My Third Quarter Benchmark

For my third quarter benchmark I choose to pick an artist and do a research paper based upon that person.  The artist that I choose is Andy Warhol. I picked this artist is because his artwork is bright with different colors and he combines more then one image within this drawings. Another style is that he will do a single color but make certain elements pop out using a different brighter color. I like his artwork because it so abstract and it seems as though he likes to captures younger audiences.

The history behind Andy Warhol is that he was an American painter, printmaker and filmmaker. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on August 6, 1928. Andy has four siblings and is the youngest of them all. His parents are from Slovakia and immigrated here after the death of Andy grandparents. When Andy was in third grade he was diagnosed with Chorea, which is a nervous system disease that makes his body twitch uncontrollable and also caused skin pigmentation blotchiness.

Andy was always bed-ridden which caused him to develop a fear of hospitals and doctors. He was an outcast at school so Andy always loved to be with this mother at her side. When he was confined to bed he would draw and collecting pictures of movie stars. This period in time was told to be the period where Andy developed his personality and his skill set.

A little information on his personal life, Andy is thought to be a homosexual and that influenced a lot of this work and shaped his relationship to the art world. Many of his movies were displayed in gay porn theaters drawing from gay underground cultures and openly expressing sexual desires. One of the first artwork he tried to submit to a gallery was a drawing of nude men but it was rejected because of it being “too gay”.

            Andy religious belief was that he was Catholic. He often volunteers in helping at homeless shelters. He likes to do it during the busier time of the years because he thought of himself as a religious person. While volunteering he start to develop more picture of religious theme. He would attend mass but did not do confession or take part in communion because the fear of being recognized. He was self-conscious of being seen in a Latin Rite church but always because he thought that it was a private thing that people did not need to be aware of to the community.

The Last Supper cycle (1986)

            In 1949, Andy was admitted into Carnegie Institute of Technology now it is known as Carnegie Mellow University. He studied commercial art at the School of Fine Arts. Then he moved to New York City and worked in magazine illustration and advertising.

Diamond dust shoes, 1980

Since, then he has traveled around the states and made different pop art drawing form different museums. In 1968, one of Andy Warhol was shoot by Valerie Solanas who was a screenplay write from some of the films that Andy was directing. The reason for her shooting is because she wanted to a script of her returned but Andy said he misplaced it. Andy suffers majorly from this attack because a lot of physical effects that he would for the rest of his life.

"Before I was shot, I always thought that I was more half-there than all-there – I always suspected that I was watching TV instead of living life. People sometimes say that the way things happen in movies is unreal, but actually it's the way things happen in life that's unreal. The movies make emotions look so strong and real, whereas when things really do happen to you, it's like watching television – you don't feel anything. Right when I was being shot and ever since, I knew that I was watching television. The channels switch, but it's all television."  -  Said after the shooting.

            Andy died a year later in 1987 on February 22 at 6:32 in the morning because of post-operative cardiac arrhythmia. His parents sued the hospital because they claim that improper care and water intoxication caused the death of Andy. His body was taken back to Pittsburgh for burial. He was buried next to his mother and father. 

self-portrait 1978

Andy Warhol’s drawings are not only different because of the abstract color scheme but because he captures them with a bold statement.  I like his painting because it takes a simple portrait of someone and makes it bold by adding a bold primary color like red or yellow. I feel like that he takes what he has been through and turns it into something inspiring that involves his religion, sexuality, experience and his life.

Overall Andy Warhol is not only a painter but a film maker and founder of The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts it was something that he put in his will that he wanted to accomplished for those who have a visual art skill and wanted to continue to achieve it.

A cool fact is that Andy Warhol painting Eight Elvises sold for $100 million in 1968. The highest to ever be priced.