Ava Gonzalez
Professor Cacoilo
ART 2421105 Self: Image
Andy Warhol and and Jean-Michel Basquiat both have left their mark through their unique art styles. Their work catches the eye with their use of bright colors and interesting layouts. Warhol’s parents came from the Carpathian Mountains, which is Eastern Slovakia today. Andrew Warhola was born on August 6, 1928 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1934, Warhol and his family moved into their home and spent a great amount of time studying his Eastern European culture. Jean-Michel Basquiat was born in Brooklyn, New York. His mother was from Puerto Rico and his father was from Haiti. Growing up, Basquiat fluently spoke English, Spanish, and French. Both Warhol and Basquiat indulged themselves into their culture and backgrounds. Although both artists had a stable home environment, they both suffered setbacks that gave both artists their inspiration and molded them into the artists they became.
Warhol suffered from a neurological disorder called Sydenham disorder, which is known as St. Vitus dance. Sydenham disorder attacked his nervous system and had him bedwridden. The disorder affected Warhol’s day to day life. As said in The Warhol:”s Andy Warhol’s Time, “When the disorder occasionally kept him home from school, Warhol would read comics and Hollywood magazines and play with paper cutouts.” Warhol would spend a large amount of time looking at magazines and the pop culture shown in comic books, which started to mold Warhol’s ideas to create pop art. Warhol often used repetitive images and complementary colors.
Jean-Michel Basquiat also struggled in his early years of life as he got hit by a car while he was playing in the street when he was eight years old. He suffered a broken arm and a ruptured spleen, which caused him to undergo a splenectomy. As stated in Weebly’s Jean-Michel Basquiat, “While in the hospital Basquiat's mother gave him a copy of "Grey's Anatomy" and a book called "Junky" by William Burroughs which somewhat influenced the goriness of his earlier drawings. Among other things, Bssquiat had the strongest relationship with his mother, and when he got out of the hospital she often took him to theaters and museums.” Seeing these images, inspired Basquiat to create gory, graphic images. After both of these incidents Warhol and Basquiat went through, their careers began to take off.
Andy Warhol graduated from college with his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1949. He then moved to New York City in hopes of having a career as a commercial artist. He soon gained great success as an artist. As said in Biography’s Andy Warhol, “It was also at this time that he dropped the "a" at the end of his last name to become Andy Warhol. He landed a job with Glamour magazine in September, and went on to become one of the most successful commercial artists of the 1950s.” Warhol started to discover himself as a person and as a creator. His work grew more creative as he started to use different techniques and unique materials. Once Warhol debuted pop art to the world, he started to win multiple awards and his work was featured on Campbell’s soup cans. As said in Biography’s Andy Warhol, “In 1962, he exhibited the now-iconic paintings of Campbell's soup cans. These small canvas works of everyday consumer products created a major stir in the art world, bringing both Warhol and pop art into the national spotlight for the first time.”
Basquiat was able to gain a successful career as an artist as well and collaborated with Warhol on artistic pieces together. As stated in Weebly’s Jean-Michel Basquiat, “Basquiat's art would be described as childlike, and cartoony and he made about 5,000 to $10,000 a piece during his first art show, and began selling out art shows just within his 2nd year of his career.” Basquiat’s work was looked at as childish and viewed as scribbles but overtime, he gained respect throughout the art community. Unfortunately, Basquiat suffered a severe drug addiction at the peak of his career. Many customers bought more of his work during this time because his work was gaining more recognition and was increasingly better. His addiction caused him to lose friends and he was struggling during what could have been the best time of his life.
Bibliography
Andy Warhol's Life. (n.d.). Retrieved April 07, 2021, from https://www.warhol.org/andy-warhols-life/
Andy Warhol. (2020, March 06). Retrieved April 07, 2021, from https://www.biography.com/artist/andy-warhol
Childhood. (n.d.). Retrieved April 07, 2021, from https://jmbasquiat.weebly.com/childhood.html
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