Andy Warhol held a mirror so that society could see their consumer-selves. His background as a commercial artist, and his fascination with advertising, lead him to create refined artwork. In Campbell’s Canned Soup, he took a banal, mass-produced item and put it centre-stage. The process he used to create the work reflected a production line. Finally, in using an assembly line artistic process, and in using other people’s ideas?
Andy Warhol held a mirror so that society could see their consumer-selves. His background as a commercial artist, and his fascination with advertising, lead him to create refined artwork. In Campbell’s Canned Soup, he took a banal, mass-produced item and put it centre-stage. The process he used to create the work reflected a production line. Finally, in using an assembly line artistic process, and in using other people’s ideas, Warhol asks society to question the value of his art. Through these ideas Warhol forces society to reflect on the theme of consumerism.
Andy Warhol’s background in context of 1950s America is important to understand, as it gives one an idea of why he was so fascinated with consumer culture. He grew up in Oakland, Pittsburgh and had two older brothers. He left school in 1945, and started his career as a commercial artist . He did artwork in this setting, looking at consumer products, until late 1959 (Shanes, 2011). Due to the middle classes’ strengthened financial position in the 1950s, American Society, through mass production, had become conformist, consumerist and banal. As a commercial artist, Andy Warhol was involved in this consumerist drive directly, through producing marketing materials. His attention turned to showing us this when he moved into fine art, from 1960 onward (Shanes, 2011). With the Pop Art movement taking shape, it allowed him to explore these ideas.
So these debates are usually over virtue ethics (basically what you value, how you value things etc.). One debate is between the philosophy of utilitarianism and deontology (consequentialism vs means based). Social problems and issues are often times evaluated under particular values. For (a simple) ex. a utilitarian would value implementing a policy to save the most people whereas a deontologist wouldn’t look to save the most people if it meant infringing on the rights of the individual. So a utilitarian would care more about extinction then the most gruesome possible death of one person. Hope this helps!
1. multi-spectral analysis reveals what is not visible to the naked eye 2. multi-spectral analysis can be used on large art that is hard to move <span>3. multi-spectral analysis can see below the surface of the artwork </span>
