Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol was a prolific magazine and ad illustrator who rose to prominence as a leading
figure in the Pop art movements of the 1960s. He experimented with a wide range of art
forms, including performance art, filmmaking, video installations, and poetry, and he
blurred the boundaries between fine art and conventional aesthetics in controversial ways.
Warhol died in New York City on February 22, 1987.

Andrew Warhola was born on August 6, 1928, in the Oakland neighbourhood of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, to Slovakian immigrants. Andrej Warhola worked as a construction worker,
while Julia Warhola worked as an embroiderer. While living in one of Pittsburgh's Eastern
European ethnic enclaves, they were devout Byzantine Catholics who regularly attended
mass and preserved much of their Slovakian culture and heritage.

Warhol contracted Chorea, also known as St. Vitus's Dance, when he was eight years old, a
rare and often lethal nervous system condition that left him bedridden for several months.
During these months, Warhol's mother, a talented artist herself, gave him his first drawing
lessons while he was sick in bed. Drawing quickly became Warhol's favourite pastime as a
teenager. He was also a movie buff, and when his mother gave him a camera when he was
nine, he began photographing himself, processing film in a makeshift darkroom he set up in
their basement.

Warhol attended Holmes Elementary School and the Carnegie Institute (now the Carnegie
Museum of Art) in Pittsburgh, where he took free art classes. Warhol's father died from a
jaundiced liver in 1942, when he was 14 years old. Since he was unable to attend his father's
funeral, Warhol hid under his bed for the duration of the wake. Warhol's father had
recognised his son's creative abilities and directed that his life savings be used to fund
Warhol's college education in his will. Warhol started at Schenley High School in the same
year, and after graduating in 1945, he enrolled at the Carnegie Institute for Technology (now
Carnegie Mellon University) to study pictorial design.

Andy Warhol is known for his vivid, colourful paintings and prints of celebrities such as
Marilyn Monroe and Mohammed Ali, as well as everyday objects like soup cans and Brillo
pads. His works were created using a variety of mediums, including painting, silk screening,
and printmaking. The ideas behind Andy Warhol’s artworks are from his childhood of being
surrounded with a bunch of celebrity culture and popular items.
 Analysis

Mickey Mouse (Diamond Dust) By Andy

Warhol
This illustration of Mickey Mouse, a Disney character, is part of a portfolio of ten screen
prints called 'Myths,' which was released in 1981. The series is focused on characters from
popular culture in the United States that have become icons, defining various generations.
Superman, Dracula, Santa Claus, and Uncle Sam are among the characters included.
Diamond dust, a by-product of the production of industrial-grade diamonds, is used to inlay
many of the prints. While the ink is still warm, it is sprayed on top to create a shimmering
surface reminiscent of the gold leaf Warhol used in the late 1950s. A series of paintings
based on the Myth characters was also created by Warhol. The artworks background is
black and the character itself is black and white and the character is Mickey mouse. There
are also some lines outside of the image with different contrasting colours giving pop to the
artwork.

When viewing this image, I gain the sense of nostalgia since Mickey mouse is a well-known
children’s show however it gives me enlightenment since it gives of a fresh new look vibe to
the image, and it then becomes very appealing to the eye. I think this artwork belongs to the
Post-impressionistic artmaking period since yes it is realistic to the cartoon mickey mouse
however, the point of it is to be more creative with it and try to turn this iconic realistic
piece into a more creative art form while still keeping the realism within the art piece. I
think the artist created this to communicate how much is possible in art. It’s not that just
because of some really popular cartoon you have to stick to only drawing that exact
cartoon. You can become creative with it, experiment, make it your own and adapt your art
style within it without having to stick to just the already given image of “how it’s supposed
to be”.