ANDY WARHOL

Andy Warhol is the most important figure in the pop art movement. The world famous artist made highly praised works of art, hung out with celebrities in his Factory studio and wore classic style glasses before streets became filled with them.

 

While in highschool, Warhol occupied his spare time drawing sketches at the Carnegie Museum or going to the movies and collecting celebrity magazines and photographs.He studied art in Pittsburg and after moving to New York in the ‘50s he started working as an illustrator for magazines such as the New Yorker or Vogue. It didn’t last long, as he soon became dissatisfied and wanted to have his works shown in art galleries.

Andy Warhol was famous for exploring popular culture in his work, illustrating in his artworks brands like Coca Cola and Campbell's Soup (which was one of his favorite things to eat). The subject of his works varied from iconic American objects to celebrities to fictional characters to traditional subjects like flowers. He used bright colors and silk screening techniques to mass-produce artworks based on photographs, he made films, digital artwork, paintings and sculptures. His paintings revolutionized the perception of art. Such was his impact that he is called the Pope of Pop Art.

Andy Warhol, Amos and Archie

Andy Warhol had a long lasting relationship with his pets, whether cats or dogs. But one particular episode caught our attention. When Andy Warhol got a dachshund puppy because his boyfriend at the time wanted one.

They named it Archie. He took Archie everywhere with him: to galleries, on business trips, on photo shoots and to his studio.
Andy even used to take the dachshund to press conferences as his second self and he would avert questions to Archie that he did not want to answer.

Things were going like a dream for the two of them so Andy decided it was time to get a second dachsie, which was when Amos came along. In the end, Archie stopped accompanying Andy everywhere so he could stay home and play with Amos. ;)

Andy had a very peculiar personal style. He had a flock of white hair and was usually seen wearing a lot of black, leather jackets and glasses or sunglasses. Warhol's wardrobe was a fairly low-key affair; he often stuck to preppy accented with an occasional burst of eccentricity.

"Fashion wasn't what you wore someplace," Warhol once said. "It was the whole reason for going."

Andy Warhol was heavily identified with his glasses, from the harsh black angular shapes he wore in the 60s to the clear perspex rectangular ones of the 70s.

FAKBYFAK 'STRUKTUR 08-03'

CUTLER AND GROSS '0932'

MASADA 'SPANISH COFFEE'

If we had to guess who claimed crystal frames first, we’d probably have to go with Andy Warhol. Eccentric, deep, and artsy, the iconic pop artist donned his classic crystal glasses with everything from clean-cut suits to leather jackets.

ORLEBAR BROWNE '6 C3'

CUTLER AND GROSS '0734'

DITA 'TALON'

And when Andy Warhol isn’t wearing his trademark crystal glasses, he opts for a pair of round horn or tortoise sunglasses with dark lenses.

THE FACTORY

The Factory was Andy Warhol's New York City studio. It was a complex space. While silkscreening and lithographs were being done in one sector, screen testing and filming would be done in another. These screen tests, a series of silent film portraits, featured Factory regulars, celebrities, friends, guests, or anyone else Warhol thought had “superstar potential.”

Warhol surrounded himself with a menagerie of people who served as his inspirations: fellow artists, musicians, actresses, socialites, drug addicts, drag queens, free thinkers, and many others. All of them later came to be known as Warhol’s Superstars.

Warhol would also often hold parties in The Factory. These parties gained his studio its reputation as a hip hangout, one of the places to be in the 1960s.

Transvestism was fashion of choice in the Factory; Warhol himself was known as Drella within the Factory, after the two sides of his personality, Dracula and Cinderella.
The nickname Drella conveyed the passive-aggressive, double-like nature of his personality. Because he was often insincere and flippant, especially in interviews, it could be hard to uncover Warhol's true thoughts.

He saw art as a product, the same as the clothes you wear and the food you eat.
Andy Warhol loved beauty and plastic. All things that were modern. He was mesmerized by the fast pace of the world. If he was alive now, what do you think would inspire him?