Extended Response

EXTENDED RESPONSE TASK NOTES
ANDY WARHOL

Artwork: Marilyn Print
Artist: Andy Warhol
Title of Artwork: Marilyn Monroe
Date: 1962
Style: Pop Art
Art form: Silk screen print

What are the distinctive qualities of the artwork?
The colours used on Marilyn’s face is a reflection of the era this art piece was created, the 1960’s-1970’s. Warhol used brightly coloured images such as pinks, yellows, blues, greens and reds. The colours are unnatural and create a superficial and unrealistic view of Marilyn. Using florescent colours on Marilyn’s face, deprives her of humane qualities. This makes her appear as an object rather than a person. The artificial colours represent super market store labelling, and the way in which bright colouring is used for marketing.

Historical and cultural contexts:
Warhol embraced the market culture (1960’s) when large supermarkets were established. He found flat blocks of colours for example soup cans, interesting and fascinating. The technique of silk screen is almost like being a consumer as there are identical pictures with different colours, similar to a supermarket isle. Pop Art emerged in America in the 1950’s and stuck around for the net to decades or so. Pop Art revealed how the market and media dictated fame. There were many concepts of fame and with the beginning of Pop Art people started to question what was real. A lot of heavy marketing and publishing was going on, which contributed to Warhol’s obsession with the relation between fame and American commodities.

Artistic influences and inspirations:
Warhol was diagnosed with Sydenham’s chorea in the third grade and at times was confined to his bed. He drew, listened to the radio and collected pictures of movie stars around his bed. This is where Warhol became captivated by celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor and Muhammad Ali. We can therefore see this as he used Marilyn Monroe’s face in his image.

Interpretation of the Subject...