Andy Warhol – An Outstanding Mystery

Illustrator Andy Warhol was one of the most popular artists of his time. He worked in a variety of mediums, including performance art, film making, video illustrations and writing. At the age of 8, Warhol had a serious disease that left him in bed for several months. While Warhol was sick in bed, his mother gave him his first drawing lessons. Drawing soon became Warhol’s favourite childhood pastime. Warhol’s father had recognized his son’s artistic talents, and he left all his money for Warhol’s college education. Warhol studied pictorial design at the Carnegie Institute for Technology. When he graduated from college, Warhol moved to New York City to pursue a career as a commercial artist. He got a job with Glamour magazine and went on to become one of the most successful commercial artists of the 1950s. In the late 1950s, Warhol began to paint more, and in 1961, he started the concept of “pop art”—paintings that focused on mass-produced commercial goods. In 1962, he exhibited the paintings of Campbell’s soup cans. These small canvas works of everyday consumer products created a major movement in the art world. Warhol’s other famous pop paintings depicted Coca-cola bottles, vacuum cleaners and hamburgers. He also painted celebrity portraits in vivid colours. His most famous subjects include Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Mick Jagger and Mao Zedong. In 1964, Warhol opened his own art studio, known simply as “The Factory.” The Factory quickly became one of New York City’s premier cultural hotspots, a scene of lavish parties attended by the city’s richest celebrities. In 1968, he was shot by Valerie Solanas, an aspiring writer. Warhol was seriously wounded in this attack. Solanas had appeared in one of Warhol’s films and was upset with him because he had refused to use a script she had written. Warhol spent weeks in a New York hospital recovering from his injury and underwent several surgeries. Warhol also worked in sculpture and photography, and in the 1980s, he moved into television, hosting Andy Warhol’s TV and Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes on MTV.