There maybe is n’t a person with a sentient brain in this country who does n’t love the name Andy Warhol or , at the very least , would n’t accredit a man - sized paint Campbell ’s soup can as " of import art . " He is likely the 20th century ’s most widely recognized creative person , best known for his screen - impress delineation of celebrities and commercial object , like the soup can .
Warhol , whose name is synonymous with 1960s New York City and Studio 54 , is actually a aboriginal Pittsburgher and a innovator of pop art who took daily images and products and turned them into memorable piece of fine art deeply rooted in the industrial influences of the Rust Belt . His legacy dead encapsulates the spirit of a urban center that grew up around the steel industry and depended on factories for economical stableness . He spend his life-time immortalizing the mundane and his body of work bear on to play an implemental role in Pittsburgh ’s singular approach to the arts .
Rooted in the city
Andy Warhol ( in the first place Warhola ) was pay on August 6th , 1928 in Pittsburgh . At the historic period of 6 , he move to a business firm in the Oakland neighborhood where his old brother Paul taught him to develop exposure from his first Brownie camera in the fruit cellar . It was in this same home that Andy Warhol would be sick-abed for many months as a untested child after being diagnose with Sydenham ’s chorea , or colloquially Saint Vitus Dance , where limb become uncontrollably unwieldy . Becoming pretty of an outcast due to his isolation , Warhol spent hours watch to attract , listening to the radio , and roll up photograph of celebrities . This led him to attend devoid art classes at what is now the Carnegie Museum of Art . Warhol later went on to draw his childhood in Pittsburgh as instrumental in the development of his skill set and aesthetic sensibility .
He attended Carnegie Mellon , then still the Carnegie Institute of Technology , studying commercial graphics . It was there that he first made wave with the divisive nature of his art – when you depict cartoonish images of mass picking their noses and claim it as " high art , " you ’re trammel to suck critic .
Looking around Pittsburgh
signature of Warhol can be found all over the city . Much like the city ’s many bridges , Warhol ’s images are iconic in Pittsburgh and serve as a changeless reminder of our complex theme that embrace both turn form value and artistic excogitation . Whether it ’s a paries of photographic print at the Pittsburgh airport , a show at Trader Joe ’s , or theBrillobox(a ginmill named after one of Warhol ’s many pieces repurposing household objects ) , Warhol ’s art can be find in all unlike forms throughout the city .
One of the most memorable homages to this artist is " The Two Andys " mural by Tom Mosser and Sarah Zeffiro in Downtown Pittsburgh . fittingly situated above Weiner World , a longstanding hot domestic dog shop with a neon sign , this vibrant painting depicts Andy Warhol and Andrew Carnegie getting made over in a beaut beauty parlour . The wall painting is the perfect marriage of two of Pittsburgh ’s most iconic figure who , despite sharing the same first name , are immensely different personalities in our city ’s history . But the largest monument to Andy Warhol in Pittsburgh is the Seventh St bridge that was named after him in jubilation of the 10th day of remembrance of the Andy Warhol Museum .
Influencing our future
One of four Carnegie museum , the Andy Warhol Museum opened in May of 1994 in a building erected in 1911 and used as a dispersion center for merchandise sold to milling machinery and mines . The narrow-minded seven floor building is now home to 100 sculptures , 900 paintings , 4,000 pic , and a large assemblage of other pieces make and collected by the creative person during his short lifetime . In 2004 , the Warhol began the Sound Series as an ongoing batting order of concert at locale around the city . Bringing in musicians that immix genres and dispute the confines of euphony , the operation shine Warhol ’s snug relationship with the boundary defying The Velvet Underground . This series is responsible for hosting gobs of creative person in Pittsburgh let in Kimya Dawson , Television , and a huge regalia of other musician who may have never made it to our city otherwise .
The museum also holds classes and offer studio apartment space for young artists and has featured the work of other influential , and often not well known , artists over the years . limited exhibition have included My Mommy is Beautiful , an induction by Yoko Ono ; Chuck Connelly : My America ; andJeremy Kost : supporter With Benefits , an exhibition focusing on gender , sex , and nightlife that include images of Pittsburgh - base drag queens . Warhol ’s influence has not only play an authoritative role in Pittsburgh ’s approach to the arts , it has also aid to alter a sometimes conservative city ’s understanding of sex and the fluid nature of sexuality .
The museum also has a traveling exhibition of Warhol ’s work that , in 2012 , brought the " 15 Minutes Eternal " collection to five cities across Asia , including Mori Art Museum in Tokyo , which has present whole kit and boodle by contemporary dissent creative person Ai Weiwei . This kind of outreach has helped in internationalizing Pittsburgh ’s originative influence as a city .
Herve GLOAGUEN/Contributor/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
Connections on film
Pittsburgh has of late become a prime goal for big budget film , but this connection to film is nothing new . At the long time of 9 , Warhol developed a love for flick that spurred his compulsion with fame and famous person . In 1968 , at an exhibit in Stockholm , Warhol uttered what has become his most well - known quote : " In the future , everybody will be man - celebrated for 15 minutes . " It was at this point in his career that he started explore film and carving .
In his studio that would eventually be known as " The Factory , " Warhol debut his Heinz Boxes , which were an homage to the Pittsburgh - found ketchup factory . It was in this studio that he commence his on-going and ill-famed relationship with a assortment of artists and celebrities . This led to the Exploding Plastic Inevitable , a multimedia show created with The Velvet Underground .
Over the bridge of his lifetime , Warhol went on to make more than 350 data-based films , each presenting unlike perspective of the creative person and the raw quality of his artistic experience . Unlike some of his easily known work , which often uses vibrant colour and high line to create pieces that epitomize daddy artistry , Warhol ’s films showed that the artist had a granulose side and an undeniable connection to the industrial roots of America .
Flickr/Tomás Fano
" I never understood why when you go , you did n’t just vanish , and everything could just keep going on the elbow room it was only you just would n’t be there . I always guess I ’d like my own gravestone to be blank . No epitaph and no name . Well , actually , I ’d like it to say ' figment . ' ” – Andy Warhol
Kitsch of death
Although Warhol died in Manhattan on February 22nd , 1987 , he was buried in Pittsburgh at the St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cemetery . Staying true to the way he lived , Warhol was swallow in a disgraceful cashmere suit , sunglasses , and a platinum wig . In 2013 , the Andy Warhol Museum and EarthCam join forces to create Figment , a24/7 live streamof Warhol ’s grave that can be viewed worldwide .
Because of Warhol ’s endure impression on both Pittsburgh and the respite of the populace , his gravesite is frequently visited by everyone from group of gamey school day students and families to his diehard fans who leave behind item like Campbell ’s soup cans , drawings , peak , box of Brillo pad , figurines , and glass Coca - Cola bottle .
Although Andy Warhol spent his animation create an image of opulence that mirrored his obsession with celebrity and famous person , he inevitably dictated that the worth of his entire estate would support a foot advancing the visual arts . The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts open in 1987 following his death , focusing " primarily on supporting work of a challenging and often experimental nature . "
Wikimedia/brian donovan
Much like Pittsburgh , Andy Warhol was an eclectic avatar of custom that he seldom let to be seen as part of his public persona ( he continue to attend Catholic church services as an grownup much like he had with his household as a child ) and artistic formula . Warhol ’s own twisted steel of the American dream continues to make for a part in Pittsburgh ’s personal identity ; a eternally growing and evolving melange of the strange and the mundane .
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The Andy Warhol Museum
The Andy Warhol Museum
