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Guess which artist lived with this man most of his life,
was obsessed with Hollywood and ice cream, bald as a bat
but loved crazy wigs, and loved to cover everything
in aluminum foil?
Yep, it's Andy Warhol.
You intrigued?
So was I.
(VOICEOVER) This episode is funded
by the Glick Fund and the Christal DeHann Family
Foundation, who inspire philanthropy and creativity.
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Warhol was born Andrew Warhola in 1928
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Julia and Andrej Warhola.
Both his parents were Czechoslovakian immigrants
who worked incredibly hard to get here.
The couple had three sons--
Paul, John, and Andrew, the youngest.
Andy was moody, prone to panic attacks, and rather shy.
In fact, while in grade school, Andy once
refused to return to school after a female student slapped
him.
His mom, Julia-- who loved how dependent Andy was on his
mama--
pulled Andy out of school for the next two years.
Even though Julia was a bit of a helicopter mom,
she was a bit of an artist herself.
She could be found putting flower arrangements together
in Campbell's Soup cans, which also happened
to be Andy's favorite lunch.
You better believe that resurfaced later.
Even when Andy was at school, he was often home sick
due to a nervous system disorder which
caused his skin to change color and give him a fever.
Interestingly, it was while home sick,
Andy started listening to the radio,
sketching, and collecting lots of 8
by 10 glossies of movie stars--
a hobby he later said helped define his career.
He was especially obsessed with Shirley Temple.
After graduating high school, Andy
attended the School of Fine Arts at Carnegie Institute,
now known as Carnegie Mellon University.
Even though he appeared meek and quiet,
Andy would apparently outperform the other students
in his art assignments-- the quiet art
ninja you never see coming.
To make extra money, Andy's brothers
would sell produce from the back of a truck,
while Andy would make quick portraits of customers
for $0.25 a pop.
Check out this sweet contour drawing.
Andy definitely realized how to turn art into cash.
In 1949, Andy exhibited a painting in the Pittsburgh
Association of Artists, playfully called
doughs: "Nose Picker".
The actual title was "The Broad Gave Me My Face,
But I Can Pick My Own Nose".
You've got to love that.
The jury couldn't decide if it was groundbreaking
or just dreadful.
In the end, it was rejected but earned indeed some good street
cred in the art world.
Just before graduating in 1949, Andy
considered becoming a high school art teacher.
In fact, he put his resume in for a job here in Indiana,
but didn't get the job.
It was during the same year, Andy's friend,
Philip Pearlstine, convinced him to move to New York.
On his second day--
second day-- in the city, he snagged a commission
for "Glamour" magazine.
When the art director asked him what he could draw,
Andy says, "I can draw anything."
I love his response.
It was also during this time that Andy dropped the A
off his given last name of Warhola,
when an article he illustrated made a typo and dropped it.
Andy liked it, so he went with it.
Andy quickly became one of the most sought
after commercial artist in New York,
with magazines such as "Glamour", "Vogue", and "Vanity
Fair" wanting his designs.
Andy would make the rounds with clients during the day
and sketch late into the night.
Then, his assistants would transfer the designs
onto another sheet.
This created that distinctive blotted line design everybody
loved, which earned him design awards, contracts,
and a lot of cash.
It was right about this time that Andy's mom, Julia, decided
to move to New York in his basement apartment
off 75th Street--
and then, to a townhouse off Lexington Avenue
to "look after" Andy.
Apparently, Julia and Andy loved them some kitty cats,
since they had several living with them.
According to friends, maybe a bit too many,
since they reported the place often smell like cat pee.
Ah, kitty cats.
[CATS MEOWING]
But hey, they somehow worked it out,
since they were roommates for 20 years--
cat pee and all.
In 1957, Andy was doing so well, he
started Andy Warhol Enterprises Incorporated.
But as the fashion world went in a different direction,
Andy's business empire started falling apart,
and he scrambled to find more commissions to keep up
his swanky lifestyle.
But a significant change was happening in the art world.
As things shifted away from abstract expressionism,
artists such as Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg
were now getting their chance to show in a big gallery,
and Andy saw an opportunity.
Andy 2.0 was not going to just be in Illustrator,
but an accomplished artist.
His goal was to exhibit at Leo Castelli Gallery,
but he often had shows that the Serendipity 3
restaurant-- which was also his favorite
stop for frozen hot chocolate.
In fact, we had a chance to go sit down with the owner,
Stephen Bruce, who helped put on these art shows for Andy,
and told us about his friendship with him.
And yes, I tried the frozen hot chocolate--
I'm not going to--
it was epic, it was awesome.
Warhol was now a commercial artist by day
and a painter by night.
His first pop art painting advertisement
was a collage of ads for food, fitness, and facial surgery.
But the real breakthrough happened
after Warhol painted two different Coke bottle
paintings.
One was more abstract, and the other simply
had clean line design.
He invited filmmaker Emil DeAntonio over
to check them out.
Emil simply tells him the abstract one is crap,
the other one is remarkable.
Destroy the first one, and show the other.
Needless to say, he took the advice.
In comes the 60s, along with Andy's new persona--
a tough makeover, complete with leather jacket, jeans,
sunglasses, ankle boots, and a messy wig.
Oh, and just in case you didn't know,
Andy started going bald pretty early.
So his way of embracing it was changing out crazy wigs often.
I got to love the approach.
Now that he had the art world's attention,
he wanted to keep his momentum, but wasn't sure
what to do next.
It was while hanging out with gallery owner, Mario Lehto,
that he paid her 50 bucks to tell him
what should he paid next.
Mario asked him one simple question-- what do you love?
Andy answered with Campbell's Soup and money, good use
of 50 bucks.
It was in 1962 at the Ferus Gallery,
Warhol hung 32 of his Campbell's Soup cans.
He hung them around the gallery to resemble a grocery store.
This show completely challenged the public's idea
of what a valid art subject was.
Soon after this show, pop art hit big.
Artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Claes Oldenburg
were leading the way and were infamously
called the New Realists.
These artists were gathering ideas from pop culture--
cars, comics, and celebrities, hence, the term "pop art".
In 1964, Warhol went for it and purchased a former factory
on Union Square.
He hired Billy Lynch to decorate the entire in and silver.
Warhol then filled the walls of the factory
with faux food boxes resembling grocery store walls.
It was in autumn of '64 that Warhol
had a show called "Flowers at the Musee Dart Moderne De La
Ville De Paris", where he fills the walls
with over 400 paintings.
Serial imagery to the extreme.
It was after this show that Warhol
announced he was "retiring" from painting and going into film.
Of course, like an NBA superstar, that retirement--
it didn't last too long.
Warhol's film career was one of the most fascinating, bizarre,
and-- well-- highly controversial.
The main aspect of many of his films was playing with time.
For example, his film, "Empire" is six full hours
of the iconic skyscraper as it disappears into the night.
Now, my personal favorite is Andy simply eating a hamburger.
[JAZZ PIANO PLAYING]
Nonetheless, he definitely developed a cult
following for his films, and even won some awards.
Unfortunately, in 1968, playwright Valerie Solanas
walked into the factory and shot Warhol in a stunt
to promote her new play.
Yeah, she took it a bit too far.
After six hours of surgery, Andy literally
came back from the dead.
Jumping ahead into the 70s, Warhol
found himself once again in Paris
at the opening of Centre Pompidou.
Warhol returned home super inspired, with new energy
and desire to paint.
For years, Warhol pushed against abstract expressionism.
But this time, he decided to give it a go.
He created what he calls his oxidation paintings,
where he tested chemical reactions
using the acid in urine with a variety of metal paints.
Bet you didn't see that one coming, did you?
Warhol would have his assistants eat a bunch of vitamin B
and tell them not to pee before they came to the factory.
Then, the painting began.
Pretty interesting, right?
Just a year after in 1987, Warhol
was commissioned to create a series
of religious paintings, which are actually
some of my favorite pieces--
especially his take on "The Last Supper".
Unfortunately, it was this same year
that Warhol went in for gallbladder surgery.
He had started to make a good recovery.
However, due to an irregular heartbeat, he died in his sleep
at the hospital on February 22, at the young age of 58.
Andy Warhol was a master artist and a huge collector.
In fact, after his death, it took Christie's 10 days
to auction off all his collectibles,
bringing in over $20 million.
As for his paintings, they still remain
some of the most sought after our works in the entire world.
In fact, in 1963, "Silver Car Crash Double Disaster"
went for $105 million.
While often misunderstood, Warhol
was one of the most amazing individuals
who loved family, and loved the power of creativity.
He knew how to capture the culture of his day
and present it in a way that made us all stop,
think, and experience our world differently.
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