I'm here at the Art Gallery of South Australia, where, as you can see behind me, there's a
big exhibition going on all about the artist Andy Warhol.
So, who was he?
What was he all about?
Let's go in and find out.
[Music: saxophone playing with a jazz band]
Julie, can you tell me a little bit about Andy Warhol, the person?
You know, what was his history?
How did he become such a famous artist?
It's, it’s really interesting, because he grew up in a town called Pittsburgh in America.
He had a really humble and poor upbringing, and after he graduated from college there,
he left and he went to New York.
And New York is the place where you can reinvent yourself, and so he became an all-American
artist and became very successful as a Pop Artist in New York.
The famous Pop Art movement came about in the US and UK in the 1950s and 60s.
It took popular everyday culture and made it into art, from mass produced objects, to
celebrity icons, comic book style, and cartoons.
[Micky Mouse] Hey, hey everybody!
It was pretty different to the art movement that came before it, which took itself more
seriously.
I think new art movements are always a reaction against something that's come before.
And so, before him was Abstract Expressionism, which was art that was about expression, but
not really much in the way of content, so he brought content back, as did the other
pop artists.
How was that seen?
Do we know at the time, like were people immediately like “Wow, a can on the wall?
That's art, amazing!
I want one of those.”
Or were they a little bit like...
No you’re right.
“What’s that?”
There were the people out there that were thinking, you know "He's, he's taking us for
a ride.
He’s just, this can't be art."
But actually, there were the people who supported him and thought it was fantastic and they've
proved to be right, because his art is still as relevant today as it was, like, 50 or 60
years ago.
They're in all the museums around the world, and they're very valuable works of art.
How valuable are we talking, Julie?
In the art gallery, you can't talk about value, but I just say Google it.
You know, I'm gonna go right out of here and do that?
Yeah, I did.
This one went for nearly 293 million dollars in 2022, making it the most expensive artwork
by a 20th century artist ever sold.
But anyway, Andy wasn't just into painting and screen printing.
He also loved photography and video.
Andy was way ahead of his time.
He was the original Kim Kardashian.
I mean, he always was with a camera.
But his photos, often of famous people doing what he called 'unfamous' things were rarely
seen.
In fact, it wasn't until after he died that about sixty-thousand of them were discovered
in his estate.
He photographed people in candid moments, his friends and famous people in candid moments.
And when you look at them now, they tell you where he was, who he was meeting, what he
was doing, what he was eating, and it's like his Instagram feed but many, many years ago,
all before social media existed and all before digital cameras existed.
So Julie, he would have like a pretty good Instagram or TikTok today, if he was still
alive then, I'm guessing?
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
If he was still alive today, he'd have every possible new gadget, app, he'd be right onto it.
He was the ultimate and the original influencer.
He was always influencing other people about how to dress and how to style.
Why do you think that Andy Warhol is still relevant to people today?
I think for me personally, it's really interesting to see the culture of the time in famous spots
like Studio 54 in New York, and I think that's what young people can relate to now is being
able to see that sort of street culture and atmosphere and pop culture of that time.
I feel like a lot of it is to do with the amount of social issues he talked about, like
looking through here, he's photographed some really big icons in history, as well as photos
of trans and drag queens.
I thought it was really relevant to today's society, especially with all that's going
on in the political sphere.
I learned a lot about um, like consumerism, and how he had that as a big influence and
becoming famous and how he wanted to portray a certain side of himself in his work, I like
I learned a lot more about the meaning behind art, which was really helpful.
So at the moment, I've started my folio for my Year 12 design, and I'm looking at screen
printing so being able to come and look at all his screen printing and all the different
pieces was really great.
Do you think you could be the next Andy Warhol, Lara?
Oh I don't know, he's very high up there.
Probably not, but would be nice to try.
Give it a shot.
You never know.
Do you think, Julie, in the future that, ah you know, my photos on Instagram or someone's
photos on Instagram, and somebody might turn that into some kind of art?
Well, maybe.
I don’t want to offend you, but I don’t think you’re quite Andy Warhol.
I mean seriously, anyone could be the next Andy Warhol out there.
It's just a matter of how you can get past the everyday and turn it into something extraordinary.
Well, that's something to aspire to.