What Makes an Andy Warhol Painting Special
What makes an Andy Warhol painting so unique? What sets his work apart from the legions of other talented artists that existed, painted and created alongside this artistic master? Why does his work continue to flourish while the work of many of his fellow contemporaries fades out of the public’s awareness?
There are many theories as to why so many enjoy or own an Andy Warhol painting, one of which is his use of painting everyday objects. Some artists rely on complicated subjects, sweeping landscapes, rolling ocean scenes or graceful nudes. They labor intensely over the minute details of color replication, the curve of a breast, the hues of the water and the transparency of clouds. Warhol gave us a soup can, an open candy box and eggs. How does this compare?
An Andy Warhol painting of everyday objects glorifies and glamorizes the mundane. No matter who or what you are, from the king of an empire to the day laborer on a construction crew, you need to eat. You need to sleep. You need to purchase the necessities of life. While daily food preparation and home care are not always seen as fantasy or a desirable use of time, Warhol took elements of the daily grind of life, put it on a canvas, and told us all it was art.
Suddenly a homemaker opening a Campbell’s soup can was part of an enduring legacy. Picking up eggs at the local market was something even the great Warhol was inspired by and while few could hope to obtain the heady love depicted in popular older paintings, all could stop by the corner store for a box of candy to surprise their lover.
His use of color in unexpected ways adds the element of fantasy. Examine the Andy Warhol painting titled Candy Box Open. It resembles a film negative with the traditionally red heart shaped box depicted in blue on a red background. An ordinary object shown in an extraordinary way – the mundane becomes a fantasy but this is a fantasy that can be obtained by all.
A careful examination of any Andy Warhol Painting shows the care and detail he put into the simplest of his paintings. Eggs, for example, are simply eggs. However their delicate oval shape spilling off the black background like a grainy photograph from the early 20s is somehow mesmerizing.
Andy Warhol paintings equalize the playing field and that is one of the many reasons they are so desirable. Warhol shows us through his depiction of everyday objects that the mundane is beautiful, the ordinary can be fantasy, and necessary items of life are indeed art. For Warhol, life did not imitate art. Life was art, so he looked around, painted it, and showed us that we could enjoy the simple act of looking at a flower or preparing a simple meal.
If you have yet to enjoy an Andy Warhol painting, plan a day to visit a gallery showing his work and then plan the evening enjoying the beauty and simplicity of the familiar, everyday objects that surround you.
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