Andy Warhols 1986 Self-Portrait: Unmasking the Meaning of Pop Art - Essay Example

Andy Warhol’s 1986 Self-Portrait: Unmasking the “Meaning” of Pop Art Introduction Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 6 August, 1928 (“Andy Warhol Biography”). The youngest son of Carpatho-Rusyn immigrants, Warhol resided in New York after completing his degree in Pictorial Design from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (“Pop Artist”). Working in his shop called The Factory, Warhol became famous in the world of art and culture through his revolutionary art pieces. Among other young artist of his time, Warhol pioneered a new sort of artistic movement known as Pop Art. Common to Pop Art, in terms of content, are works of art that tackle people, personalities, and items characterized in the realm of popular culture. Prominent in Pop Art with respect to technique and media, Warhol employed silkscreen technique and acrylic paint in re/producing his art pieces. Unfortunately, Andrew Warhola died in 1987 due to gall bladder failure (“Pop Artist”). Today, Warhol’s art lingers to be influential in the realm of art and culture; his art works are exhibited in various and distinguished museums such as Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Brooklyn Museum, and Baltimore Museum of Art. In this paper, Warhol’s 1986 Self-Portrait -- exhibited in said museums -- will be examined. At the outset, the Self-Portrait (1986) of Warhol consists of two main colors, namely, gold yellow and bloody red. The figure in this Self-Portrait is the pop artist himself -- Andy Warhol. Made a year before he perished, Warhol’s Self-Portrait (1986) is remarkable, if not eerie. Andy Warhol’s Self-Portrait, 1986 (from brooklynmuseum.org) The Artist’s Silkscreen and Media In Warhol’s Self-Portrait (1986), the media that the artist widely used were acrylic and silkscreen ink. Acrylic and silkscreen ink are paint media that are fast drying and easily absorbent onto the linen material. It is worth noting that Warhol once compared himself to a machine (Armstrong). Like his mechanical media and technique, Warhol manufactured art works in an easy and fast pace. Machines and robots are known for their re/production of products or goods in an efficient way. In one of the interviews with Warhol -- during his Brillo Box exhibit -- the artist replied that he wanted to re/create art in an easy manner. The silkscreen technique provided Warhol the means to achieve his artistic goal: reproduction in large quantity. In fact, his Self-Portrait (1986) contains numerous re/productions, a repetition of copying a single image in different colors. Of Gold and God Warhol’s Self-Portrait (1986) is visibly composed of bright colors -- as bright as gold. In Sooke’s documentary film about Andy Warhol, the art critic traces the life of said cultural icon/artist. Sooke says that the young Andy frequently visited the church named the St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church at Pittsburgh. Inside this church are images, statues, and items wrapped in bright color gold. The art critic states that the Gold Marilyn Monroe was greatly shaped by the pop artist’s childhood years at Pittsburgh. That is to say, the gold color seen at the Byzantine Catholic Church substantially influenced Warhol’s art in a profound fashion. It is arguable that the gold color in his 1986 Self-Portrait is reminiscent to the gold items found in the artist’s church. Death Mask The space background seen in the 1986 Self-Portrait is apparently dim, making the figure-head as the self-portrait’s center of attention. Auping and Karnes observe that Warhol’s self-portrait is “often characterized as masklike” (194). The bright color gold apparent in Warhol’s Self-Portrait (1986) makes the artist’s image the point of emphasis. It is interesting to note that death masks are made of gold. Agreeing to Auping and Karnes, Sooke describes Warhol’s Self-Portrait as a death mask. It must be remembered that this Self-Portrait was created by the artist a year before he died. Almost a prophesy -- Sooke mentions Warhol as being a prophet -- the “death mask” seen in the 1986 Self-Portrait signified, at a certain extent, the death of Andy Warhol. Auping and Karnes admit that Warhol’s face in his Self-Portrait is “shockingly blunt and vulnerable, and the mask has been dropped to reveal an apparition of death” (194). Sooke remarks that Warhol had been fascinated with death as a subject matter for his art; Warhol’s Orange Car Crash Fourteen Times (1963) is an example of this. The people or figures in the artist’s art works are dead ones. In the Orange Car Crash, for instance, a corpse is seen in the art piece. Replying to the critics of Warhol being heartless, Sooke argues that the artist was just being honest. Death is, ironically, a fact of life; despite their contrasting difference, there is a sense of balance between them (i.e., life and death) like the balance visible in Warhol’s Self-Portrait. Just Nothing Whenever critics or fans asked Warhol about the meaning of his work, the artist simply replies, “Ah, they’re just nothing” (Sooke). There is no “meaning” in an art object or piece. Probably an art work has no meaning apart from the artist or creator of such piece. In the Brillo Box interview, Warhol answered the cynical reporter in this way: “It gives me something to do.” The reporter was asking the artist about the meaning or significance of his art exhibit or art itself. The process of re/creating art is embedded in the artist’s identity. With respect to Warhol, especially during the Factory Years (term borrowed from Warhol.Org), the re/production of art is beyond individual but social or group directed. (Silkscreen technique -- as seen in videos with Warhol in The Factory -- is inherently group oriented. It is noteworthy that the terms “factory,” “machine,” and others are associated to modernity, if not capitalism.) As to what this expression or meaning of an art piece is a puzzle to art critics or historians. Perhaps Warhol’s 1986 Self-Portrait is “just nothing;” nevertheless, that does not mean that art pieces have no meaning/s whatsoever. Art critics, Sooke contends, are left to analyze and interpret the meaning of art. Weinberg concurs by saying that “art historians often approach the work of art as a mystery that needs to be solved or as a kind of mask, behind which is the essential identity of the artist” (14). Warhol’s Self-Portrait tells the viewers about the artist himself. Schroeder notices that the self-portraits of said artist are the “most well known images of Warhol as a person” (482). He went further by saying that Warhol’s self-portraits are forms of marketing strategy. Dyer agrees and declares that “Warhol’s ‘factory’ produced both artworks and personalities” including the artist himself (33). Conclusion Warhol’s Self-Portrait (1986) reveals certain, if not important, part of the Pop Art artist. Art critics and historians attempted and continue to attempt in deciphering the meaning of Warhol’s 1986 Self-Portrait. Few have viewed this Self-Portrait as a death mask, transforming Warhol as a prophet. Few have viewed said art work as a form of a marketing campaign -- that is, reproducing the image of the artist like the reproduction of popular-culture items and paraphernalia common in the Hollywood industry. However, Warhol may say, “Ah, they’re just nothing.” Art critic Sooke claims that the works of art of Andy Warhol -- including his Self-Portrait (1986) -- speak about “us,” namely, the human species. The re/production of images with the employment of silkscreen technique (used by Warhol), Sooke asserts, is not far from the re/production of “images” or photos of various ordinary people with the utilization of the Facebook page. In today’s world -- even in Warhol’s time and place -- everyone wants to be an instant celebrity. In doing so, people re/produce their “masks” in almost all media available in the modern technological world. Overall, Warhol’s Pop Art movement fundamentally altered the realm of art and culture, of high and low art/culture. At a certain rate, Warhol has unmasked the hidden identity of every human person: famous in 15 minutes. Works Cited “Andy Warhol Biography.” Warhol.Org. The Andy Warhol Museum, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. . Armstrong, Rick. “Warhol D.I.Y. Pop App.” Warhol.Org. The Andy Warhol Museum, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. . Auping, Michael, and Andrea Karnes. Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. USA: Third Millenium, 2006. Print. Dyer, Jennifer. “The Metaphysics of the Mundane: Understanding Andy Warhol’s Serial Imagery.” Artibus et Historiae 25.49 (2004): 33+. “Pop Artist and Cultural Icon.” WarholFoundation.Org. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. . Schroeder, Jonathan. “Andy Warhol: Consumer Researcher.” Advances in Consumer Research 24 (1997): 476-482. Print. Sooke, Alastair. “Andy Warhol.” BBC Modern Masters. British Broadcasting Corporation. BBC, London. n.d. Television. 21 Oct. 2011. . Warhol, Andy. Self-Portrait, 1986. 1986. Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Warhol.Org. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. Weinberg, Jonathan. “Things are Queer.” Art Journal 55.4 (1996): 11+. Print. Three of Andy Warhol’s works: (I prefer the third 1986 Self-Portrait. There are many sources for this particular Self-Portrait.) Read More