!1
History of Arts and Culture - CC1001
Student: -
Student nr.: -
Assignment 6 - Andy Warhol, Velvet Underground & Nico Album Cover, 1967
The New Art of Consumption
The role of Abstract Expressionism as the predominant art movement was fading away,
and a new age of prosperity rising in United States encouraged a new kind of art in the late
1950’s and 1960’s, this style was named Pop Art. One of the major exponents of this movement
was Andy Warhol, born in Pittsburg in 1928. From an extremely humble background, son of poor
Slovakian emigrants, Warhol rose to stardom during the last half of the 1960’s, becoming the
personification of the American dream. He explored more than any other artists the role of fame
in his superficial society. Often called “the most American of artists”, Warhol understood who
the consumer lifestyle worked, his art copied mass production, creating an amalgam between
fine arts and industry. Warhol used a technique known as silkscreen or serigraphy, in which the
artist applies a impenetrable light-sensitive emulsion to a special mesh, then he spreads paint on
it with a squeegee, transferring the paint through the chosen open areas left in the mesh to
another surface, creating a design as with a stencil (Benton & DiYanni, 2014: 437; Sanders et al.,
2006).
In a time when Rock and Roll was the leading musical exponent, The Velvet
Underground’s tunes were a psychedelic and cutting edge rupture from the prevalent music
scene. They mainly stand out for the crudity of their lyrics, which were a reflection of the
decadent noises and people that lived in New York City. In 1966, Warhol organized a multimedia
performances known as Exploding Plastic Inevitable or EPI, promoting The Velvet Underground
and Nico, he commented about the event (Warner, 2013): “We all knew something revolutionary
was happening. We just felt it. Things could not look this strange and new without some barrier
being broken” (p. 290). Reviews of the event were mostly positive, people referred to it as the
work that established the bases of multimedia experiences. With the use of Warhol’s films
History of Arts and Culture - CC1001
Student: -
Student nr.: -
Assignment 6 - Andy Warhol, Velvet Underground & Nico Album Cover, 1967
The New Art of Consumption
The role of Abstract Expressionism as the predominant art movement was fading away,
and a new age of prosperity rising in United States encouraged a new kind of art in the late
1950’s and 1960’s, this style was named Pop Art. One of the major exponents of this movement
was Andy Warhol, born in Pittsburg in 1928. From an extremely humble background, son of poor
Slovakian emigrants, Warhol rose to stardom during the last half of the 1960’s, becoming the
personification of the American dream. He explored more than any other artists the role of fame
in his superficial society. Often called “the most American of artists”, Warhol understood who
the consumer lifestyle worked, his art copied mass production, creating an amalgam between
fine arts and industry. Warhol used a technique known as silkscreen or serigraphy, in which the
artist applies a impenetrable light-sensitive emulsion to a special mesh, then he spreads paint on
it with a squeegee, transferring the paint through the chosen open areas left in the mesh to
another surface, creating a design as with a stencil (Benton & DiYanni, 2014: 437; Sanders et al.,
2006).
In a time when Rock and Roll was the leading musical exponent, The Velvet
Underground’s tunes were a psychedelic and cutting edge rupture from the prevalent music
scene. They mainly stand out for the crudity of their lyrics, which were a reflection of the
decadent noises and people that lived in New York City. In 1966, Warhol organized a multimedia
performances known as Exploding Plastic Inevitable or EPI, promoting The Velvet Underground
and Nico, he commented about the event (Warner, 2013): “We all knew something revolutionary
was happening. We just felt it. Things could not look this strange and new without some barrier
being broken” (p. 290). Reviews of the event were mostly positive, people referred to it as the
work that established the bases of multimedia experiences. With the use of Warhol’s films
