Andy Warhol

ANDY WARHOL WAS BORN 1928 IN PENNSYLVANIA AS ANDREW WARHOL TO IMMIGRANT PARENTS.  HE STUDIED AT THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (NOW CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY) IN 1945. AFTER GRADUATING, WARHOL MOVED TO NEW YORK WHERE HE BEGAN HIS CAREER WORKING AS A COMMERCIAL ILLUSTRATOR. IN THE EARLY 1960S HE TURNED HIS ATTENTION TO THE POP ART MOVEMENT AND BEGAN CREATING UNCONVENTIONAL WORKS OF ART THAT EXPLORED AMERICA'S FASCINATION WITH CELEBRITY CULTURE, CONSUMERISM, AND MEDIA. WARHOL WAS KNOWN FOR USING SILKSCREEN PRINTING TECHNIQUES WITH WHICH HE CREATED WORKS SUCH AS COCA COLA (1961), CAMPBELL'S SOUP CANS (1962), AND MARILYN DIPTYCH (1962). THE ECCENTRIC ARTIST HOSTED PARTIES AT HIS SILVER TONED ‘FACTORY’ STUDIO IN NEW YORK, FOSTERING A CULTURE OF EXPERIMENTATION AND LIBERATION IN THE NEW YORK ART SCENE. THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER, WARHOL COLLABORATED WITH ARTISTS JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT, FRANCESCO CLEMENTE, AND KEITH HARING. SINCE HIS PASSING, WARHOL'S WORK HAS BECOME EXPONENTIALLY MORE VALUABLE AND RECOGNIZABLE ACROSS THE GLOBE. ANDY WARHOL IS CONSIDERED THE FATHER OF THE POP ART MOVEMENT AND IS REGARDED AS ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL CULTURAL ICONS OF THE CENTURY.