: Warhols Race Riot - Assignment Example

Warhol’s: Race Riot In the year 1964, Andy Warhol, the famous American artist, made an iconic and land-marking silkscreen painting bearing a “Race Riot”, with an interesting backdrop. In the year 1963, a preparation for an exhibition was taking place where Warhol was actively going to participate, at Sonnabend Gallery in Paris. Moved by the anxiety of mass-consumerism at his first exhibition at limelight, Warhol selected a theme quite morbid in nature. The theme of the exhibition chosen by Warhol was known by the name, “Death in America” (Smith, 2012).

The subjects of the paintings were varied. Ranging from car crash to suicide, themes such as food poisoning, funerals of the gangsters, electric chair, and the death and anxiety of Atom Bombing found profound expression within the broad head of ‘Disaster and Disaster’ paintings. The shock, which the Americans received from the photo essay published in ‘Life’ magazine by Charles Moore, displaying fire-hosed black protestors, anticipated a mind set for dystopia of the American Dream (Cram 101 Textbook Reviews, 2014; Smith, 2012).

The masterpiece by Andy Warhol provided a tickle to the anticipatory thought of the Americans, which they were experiencing through artifice movements in and around America at that time. Warhol’s “Race Riot” is not just a mundane summation of its materials used. It transcends all the barriers of materialistic purview that captivates the societal gist of the era. At the same time, the art piece continuously pose questions on the comprehension and deeper understanding of the viewers watching it, which further indicates the effect of the artifice on them and the imagery it possesses, being unique in the then American culture (Cram 101 Textbook Reviews, 2014).

The picture contains total four canvasses. Two of them are painted in red, and among the remaining two, one is painted in white and the other in blue. The iconic picture of the Birmingham Campaign, which was constituted with two Birmingham policemen, setting their dogs on a fleeing black man, who apparently seems lonely in the picture became the exemplary icons during the US Civil Rights Movement. The horrendous nature of the picture has been made deliberately decent through its repetition within the single canvas.

This has actually allowed Warhol to evolve out his ability to dissipate the images those stand as symbols from the artistry, which deepens the comprehension of the viewers towards the history of time and finally, transcends into the comprehension of one’s own entity (Smith, 2012). ReferencesCram 101 Textbook Reviews, (2014). e-Study Guide for: A World of Art by Henry M. Sayre, ISBN 9780205677207: Arts, Arts. US: Cram 101 Textbook Reviews. Smith, D. (2012). Poets beyond the Barricade: Rhetoric, Citizenship, and Dissent after 1960.

Alabama: University of Alabama Press.