Volume CXXXIII, Number 3 September 21, 2001 f

The prints of Andy Warhol on campus
HANNAH DEAN
Staff Writer

"Once you 'got' Pop, you can never see a sign again the same way again. And once you thought Pop, you could never see America the same way again."

Andy Warhol's print of Mao Tse-Tung, created in 1947. His prints will be on display through December 23. (Courtesy of theBowdoin College Museum of Art)

Those are the words of the man who defied originality and forced Americans to look at the pre-labeled, contrived world in which they lived. Those are the words of a man who took the faces of celebrities, the labels of consumerism, and depicted them as idolatrous images of American society.

In the early 1960's, Andy Warhol developed a technique which enabled him to enlarge photographic images, transfer these images to silk screen, place them on canvas, and ink the images from the back. With this technique, Warhol was able to begin producing series of prints based on mass media, which opened the eyes of art appreciators around the world. From the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania comes a smattering of these prints. The exhibition, entitled The Prints of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again), will be showing from September 29 to December 23, 2001 in the Twentieth Century and Temporary Exhibition Galleries of the Walker Art Museum. This overview of Warhol's prints includes portraits of cultural celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Mao as well as displays of Warhol's famed Campbell's Soup can labels.

However, before he was a man worthy of a Bowdoin College welcome, he was Andy Warhola, an up-and-coming graduate of the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Moving to New York, Warhola gained success as a commercial artist and had his first big break at Glamour Magazine in August of 1949. Not only did the magazine launch him into his illustrious career, it also dropped the last "a" in Warhola when it credited him for his illustrations in the article entitled "Success is a Job in New York." It was a small sacrifice to make. By 1955, the newly christened Warhol was one of the most famous and sought-after commercial artists in New York.

From his start as a commercial artist, Warhol went on to produce prints and then experimental movies dealing with repetition, ennui, and the passage of time. However, regardless of the medium, Andy Warhol remained innovative throughout his career. He was not an elite artist floating in the clouds above the masses; rather, he was very much a man of the masses, a man created by the masses.

"Pop art is for everyone," said Warhol. Anyone can walk down the street of any city, pick up a crisp Coca-Cola, have a hearty bowl of Campbell's soup, and see the truth of this statement. It is about our daily lives, the brands we live by and it is about coming to terms with "the practical but impermanent symbols that sustain us."

To welcome Andy Warhol to the Walker Museum, an opening reception will be held on Friday, September 28 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the Walker Art Building.