“This stencil process involved transferring an image on to a porous screen, then applying paint or ink with a rubber squeegee.”
“The silkscreen technique was ideally suited to Warhol, for the repeated image was reduced to an insipid and dehumanized cultural icon that reflected both the supposed emptiness of American material culture and the artist’s emotional noninvolvement with the practice of his art.”
1964, Warhol moved to 231 East 47th Street, calling his space “The Factory”
“The Factory” was actually his second studio to hold this name
It was painted silver and covered in tin foil
Hired several “assistants”
“Now, with the help of his assistants, he could more decisively remove his hand from the canvas and create repetitive, mass-produced images that would appear empty of meaning and beg the question, 'What makes art, art?'"
The Factory in 1965.
Began working with repetition, and how to make unconventional items into art pieces
“Building on the emerging movement of Pop Art, wherein artists used everyday consumer objects as subjects, Warhol started painting readily found, mass-produced objects, drawing on his extensive advertising background. When asked about the impulse to paint Campbell’s soup cans, Warhol replied, 'I wanted to paint nothing. I was looking for something that was the essence of nothing, and that was it'. The humble soup cans would soon take their place among the Marilyn Monroes, Dollar Signs, Disasters, and Coca Cola Bottles as essential, exemplary works of contemporary art. “
Began making films
"Now considered avant-garde cinema classics, Warhol’s early films include Sleep (1963), Blow Job(1964), Empire (1963), andKiss(1963-64). With sold out screenings in New York, Los Angeles, and Cannes, the split-screen, pseudo documentary Chelsea Girls (1966) brought new attention to Warhol from the film world. Art critic David Bourdon wrote, 'word around town was underground cinema had finally found its Sound of Music in Chelsea Girls.'"
"Warhol would make nearly 600 films and nearly 2500 videos. Among these are the 500, 4-minute films that comprise Warhol’s Screen Tests, which feature unflinching portraits of friends, associates and visitors to the Factory, all deemed by Warhol to be in possession of 'star quality'."
"Featuring his 'superstars' or 'Warholstars,' friends and artists who would hang out at The Factory and who were known for their 'unconventional lifestyle.'"
She was unsuccessful, but Warhol had to spend the rest of his life wearing medical contraptions to essentially hold his body together.
This incident essentially ended his “Factory Phase”
“The brush with death along with mounting pressure from the Internal Revenue Service (stemming from his critical stance against President Richard Nixon), seem to have prompted Warhol to document his life to an ever more obsessive degree. He would dictate every activity, including noting the most minor expenses, and employ interns and assistants to transcribe the content of what would amount to over 3,400 audio tapes.”
In later life, Warhol did not slow down. He simply began experimenting with new mediums.
"He co-founded Interview Magazine; appeared on television in a memorable episode of The Love Boat; painted an early computer portrait of singer Debbie Harry; designed Grammy-winning record covers for The Rolling Stones; signed with a modeling agency; contributed short films to Saturday Night Live; and produced Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes and Andy Warhol’s TV, his own television programs for MTV and cable access. He also developed a strong business in commissioned portraits, becoming highly sought after for his brilliantly-colored paintings of politicians, entertainers, sports figures, writers, debutantes and heads of state. His paintings, prints, photographs and drawings of this time include the important series, Skulls, Guns, Camouflage, Mao, and The Last Supper."
DEATH
Warhol began complaining on serious pain on his right side while showing a piece in Milan.
After much convincing, Warhol agreed to be taken to the hospital, where he was taken in for gallbladder surgery.
It was originally thought that Warhol died of post-op complications. However, new evidence shows that Warhol's health was already precarious when he went in for surgery.
Warhol in buried in Pittsburgh
His funeral at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York drew 2,000 admirers from "the worlds of art, fashion, society and entertainment, and some of their names were among the world's most droppable - Halston, Liza Minnelli, Ann Bass, Klaus von Bulow, Claes Oldenburg, Grace Jones, Richard Gere and Prince and Princess Michael of Greece."
Mission is to “support the creation, presentation and documentation of contemporary visual art, particularly work that is experimental, under-recognized, or challenging in nature.”