Thursday, May 10, 2012

Andy Warhol-Campbell's Soup Cans

 Andy Warhol was born on August 6th, 1928, and is the pioneer of Pop Art. This art form was a style where, mass produced, common, kitsch, objects would be screen printed and essentially mass produced in some cases to create art. His style was meant to represent the idea that art is for everybody and is relative, despite that many people may think that only “high” art is art. (Potash)
           A simple can of Campbell’s Tomato Soup screen printed and blown up on a canvas showed that what can be considered art is relative. These soup cans mean nothing by themselves, and force the viewer to create their own meaning for the cans.  That is why “Campbell’s Soup Can” is a key painting in postmodern art. It is an example of relativity which can only be understood by interpretation, which obviously differs from person to person in this case.
The soup cans are said to be empty without meaning. They are a blank form of commodity and their meaning is up to interpretation. (Kramer) This piece of art conveys the idea of relativity, as does O’Brien’s War Stories. The cans simply exist, and like how stories do not necessarily need to have morals or lessons backing them up, these cans/art pieces do not need to have any meaning behind them in order to be considered art.

Pictures after the break.




Andy Warhol's The Collection. Campbell's Soup Cans 1962 [http://bit.ly/KO8LCL]
Andy Warhol 's Campbell's Soup Can [http://bit.ly/IWmOdD]

1 comment:

  1. This is good basic information but to completely connect it to the other articles, I would need more of a detail explanation. I can form the connection because I have been educated in the matter, but it would be hard for an outsider.

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