Warhol and the portrait

Ever since a visit to the Andy Warhol museum in Pittsburgh four years ago, I have been enamored with the works of the Pope of Pop. I can strongly associate with his love of the esoteric and avant-garde, yet not being totally cut off from the current of popular culture and other facets of capitalism in his art and experience. Though they aren't portraiture, my favorite works of his are Silver Clouds and Empire- both being pieces that push the boundary of what is 'art' and what is not. Silver Clouds is simply a room filled with mylar, pillow shaped balloons that emulate the feeling of being amongst the clouds yet at the same time images of a bed and sleeping. Empire is purely 8 hours of footage of the Empire State Building shot by Warhol as the day recedes into dusk. I can't say I've watched the whole thing, but I have watched my fair share of it.

Which brings me to his portraiture- Warhol captured the same maverick spirit and avant-garde expression of his works like Empire and Silver Clouds in his portraiture as well. They make use of magazine photos of celebrities or copies of ad prints or dollar bills- all various manners of cultural 'detritus' that are meant to be consumed and then disposed of. Warhol took these and made art with them, but made art in his own trailblazing way by mass-producing the artworks and trying his damnedest to remove as much of the manual talent and artistry of traditional painting in the process.