Warhol's favorite printmaking technique
was silkscreen. It came closest to his idea of
proliferation of art. Apart from being an Art
Producing Machine, the Factory served as a
filmmaking studio. Warhol made over 300 experimental
underground films - most rather bizarre and some rather
pornographic. His first one was called Sleep and
showed nothing else but a man sleeping over six hours.
Nearly Murdered
In July of 1968 the pop artist was shot
two to three times into his chest by a woman named
Valerie Solanis. Andy was seriously wounded and only
narrowly escaped death. Valerie Solanis had worked
occasionally for the artist in the Factory.
Solanis had founded a group named SCUM (Society for
Cutting Up Men) and she was its sole member. When
Valerie Solanis was arrested the day after, her words
were "He had too much control over my life".
Warhol never recovered completely from
his wounds and had to wear a bandage around his waist
for the rest of his life.
Andy Warhol Art in
the Seventies
After this assassination attempt the pop
artist made a radical turn in his process of producing
art. The philosopher of art mass production now spent
most of his time making individual portraits of the rich
and affluent of his time like Mick Jagger, Michael
Jackson or Brigitte Bardot.
Warhol's activities became more and more
entrepreneurial. He started the magazine Interview
and even a night-club. In 1974 the Factory was
moved to 860 Broadway. In 1975 Warhol published THE
philosophy of Andy Warhol. In this book he describes
what art is:
"Making money is art, and working is
art and good business is the best art."
A Bizarre
Personality
Warhol was a homosexual with a slightly
bizarre personality. In the fifties he dyed his hair
straw-blond. Later he replaced his real hair by blond
and silver-grey wigs.
The pop artist loved cats, and images of
them can be found on quite a few of his art works. One
of Andy's friends described him as a true workaholic.
Warhol was obsessed by the ambition to become famous and
wealthy. And he knew he could achieve the American
dream only by hard work.
In his last years Warhol promoted other
artists like Keith Haring or Robert Mapplethorpe.
Andy Warhol died February 22, 1987 from
complications after a gall bladder operation. More than
2000 people attended the memorial mass at St.Patrick's
Cathedral. The pop art icon Warhol was also a religious
man - a little known fact.
Two years later, in May 1994 the
Andy
Warhol Museum opened in his home town Pittsburgh in
Pennsylvania.
Andy Warhol Pop Art
on the Internet