Put a Peephole in my Brain, Two New Pence to Have a Go

            In this article on Andy Warhol, the author explores Warhol’s art, style, approach, and overall meaning. What I found interesting here is that Warhol, in a sense, was mass culture and elite culture at the same time. It was brilliant. Warhol was a solitary man most of his life, and as an artist, he was a successful illustrator in the New York art scene. The art world is a fickle beast, and Warhol’s success is a bit of an anomaly. When Warhol was first written off as a mass-produced illustrator who would never have unique pieces of valuable art, he turned the art world on its head. Warhol repurposed the pop culture and mass culture all around him into elite culture items. His career launched, and Warhol is still considered one of the most important artists of the 20^th century

 Warhol pictured here with Michael Jackson, showing how big of a pop icon Warhol really was

            The mark of a great artist had always a matter of unique and relatable perspective. Curators and collectors payed attention to brush strokes, colors, subject matter, feelings evoked, feelings expressed, etc. At least that is how I think we judge art. But Warhol cracked some kind of code and somehow took mass culture ideas and made them unique. He took mass culture, and then sold them as elite culture. 

Warhol's Campbell's soup can series, release in 1962.

Photo of the famous Marilyn Monroe piece, 1962-1967

            So, what was the difference between the Andy Warhol print of a Campbell’s soup can and just tearing one of the labels off a can from the store and framing it. Well…Andy Warhol drew one, and the other came off of an assembly line press. It just goes to show how deeply we are effected by mass culture. Even in the sacred world of Art, a place where mass produced garbage has no place, people are drawn to it like a fly to honey. Mass culture got its own genre; Pop Art. And Warhol, one of the pioneers, is a genius for that. Hey, how many artists actually get to actually hang around and enjoy their fame and success? Warhol experienced rock-star-style fame for his artistic contributions. The song Andy Warhol is one of my favorite songs ever written by the late, great David Bowie. Here is the first verse and chorus, as well as a link to the song.

Like to take a cement fix
Be a standing cinema
Dress my friends up just for show
See them as they really are
Put a peephole in my brain
Two New Pence to have a go
I'd like to be a gallery
Put you all inside my show

Andy Warhol looks a scream
Hang him on my wall
Andy Warhol, Silver Screen
Can't tell them apart at all
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