A much more complete treatment can be seen in the Andy Warhol article at Wikipedia.
Andy Warhol ( August 6 1928 - February 22 1987) was an American artist who became a central figure in the movement known as pop art. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became famous worldwide for his work as a painter, an avant-garde filmmaker, a record producer, an author and a public figure known for his presence in wildly diverse social circles that included bohemian street people, distinguished intellectuals, Hollywood celebrities and wealthy aristocrats.
A controversial figure during his lifetime, Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books and documentary films since his death in 1987. He is generally acknowledged as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century.
Brief biography[]
Warhol was born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. As a sickly child, he used to draw, listen to the radio and collect pictures of movie stars around his bed. After college he began a successful career in magazine illustration and advertising.
During the 1960s that Warhol began to make paintings of famous American products such as Campbell's Soup and Coca-Cola, as well as celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. He founded "The Factory", his studio, during these years, and gathered around himself a wide range of artists, writers, musicians and underground celebrities. He switched to silkscreen prints, which he produced serially, seeking not only to make art of mass-produced items but to mass produce the art itself. During this decade, Warhol also groomed a retinue of bohemian eccentrics who participated in his studios or in the Factory films.
On June 3 1968, Warhol was shot in his studio by disturbed feminist Valerie Solanas. He was seriously wounded by the attack and barely survived, and suffered physical effects for the rest of his life. After this incident, Warhol devoted much of his time to rounding up new, rich patrons for portrait commissions, and co-founded Interview magazine. He socialized at Serendipity 3 and Studio 54, and was generally regarded as quiet, shy, and as a meticulous observer.
Warhol had a re-emergence of critical and financial success in the 1980s, partially due to his affiliation and friendships with a number of prolific younger artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Julian Schnabel.
Warhol was one of the first major American artists to be open about his homosexuality.
At the relatively young age of 58, Warhol died in New York City on February 22 1987 after complications from routine gallbladder surgery.
Warhol and Duran Duran[]
On their first trip to New York in 1981, Duran Duran expressed an interest in meeting Andy Warhol, and their Capitol Records label helped arrange fro them to visit his studio. Warhol became friendly with the entire band, but particularly Nick Rhodes, with whom he shared an interest in art and New York night life. There are several mentions of Nick and his wife Julieanne in Warhol's published diaries.
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The song "Do You Believe In Shame?" is dedicated in part to Warhol's memory.
Other music connections[]
Warhol adopted the band the Velvet Underground as one of his projects in the 1960s, "producing" their first album. He designed the cover art for The Rolling Stones albums Sticky Fingers (1971) and Love You Live (1977).
Warhol was also friendly with many musicians, including Bob Dylan and John Lennon. Warhol also appeared as a bartender in The Cars' music video for their single "Hello Again," and Curiosity Killed The Cat's video for "Misfit".
Warhol strongly influenced the new wave/punk rock band Devo, as well as David Bowie. Bowie recorded a song entitled "Andy Warhol".
External links[]
- The Andy Warhol Foundation
- The Warhol Museum
- Andy Warhol at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
- Pop Art Masters - Andy Warhol
- Warhol Family Museum in Slovakia
- Andy Warhol at IMDb
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