Lesson 6 - PBS - Warhol

This documentary discusses the life and work of Andy Warhol who is considered the most important artist of the second half of the 20th century, maybe even the whole 20th century. Through his work and talents he is regarded as an American and a genius but sometimes you just can't tell which one.

What I liked about Andy Warhol was how little society really impacted him as an artist. In the first minute you see Warhol speaking to a reporter and she is questioning him as an artist. She starts of by stating a source saying that his work could not be considered original work and whether or not he agreed with that. After he agreed with her she continued on by questioning him again stating that he was just copying a common item. Again he agrees and she asks "Well why do you do that? Why not create something new?" and Warhol replies by saying "Because it's easier to do." The reporter then asks, "Well isn't this a sort of joke then that you are playing on the public?" and Warhol simply replies by saying, "No, it gives me something to do." Rather than giving into her questioning, Andy Warhol gives the simple answer. He's not beating around the bush and he's not trying to explain why his work isn't original because he knows it's not. He's not an artist for society, he is an artist for himself and that is what I think is the most important for an artist to remember. It's his work, it's his mind displayed across a blank canvas, the public's opinion has little to do with it and he continues to do what he wants to do. 

One of the things I liked about this documentary were the interviews and I liked seeing how many people actually praised and loved Warhol for who he was as an artist, when there were so many who did not like him at all and completely prejudiced him for his sexuality and "lack of artistic genius".  Dave Hickey, an art historian, has a lot to say about him. "He was the most American of artists and the most artistic of Americans. So American in fact that he is virtually invisible to us...In Warhol, the simplicity of a typical American citizen and the simplicity of artist genius are so intervened we cannot distinguish them, nor properly credit either his Americanness or his genius." Hickey also states, "He literally changed the world. And you change the world by changing what people look at, the priorities that they place on it and so he changed the world."  

What struck me as the most interesting was my reaction to the opening segment of the documentary with Warhol and the interviewee. In those first few seconds I did not like him. I found him very arrogant and rude. But then as the documentary went on my idea of him changed. Yes, he is an artist and a rule breaker but that disguise was held very lightly and in fact he fit this childlike persona of simply wanting to belong. But at the same time he enjoyed pretending that there was no meaning to what he was doing. However, when you look at the beginning of Warhol's life and his aspirations as an artist, the moment you take that step forward into his world it's hard not to fall in love with him.