Title: Capital World
Size: 38 cm x 38 cm Medium: Illustration Board Completed October 2023 - Exhibition Text -Capital World is an illustration that emulates the pop art movement while putting a dark tonal shift on it. Using the bright inspirations from Warhol I wanted the individual aspects of my illustration & its background to appear hyper and chaotic while utilizing repeating shapes and a retrofuturisitc appearance to represent the chaos within a constantly advertised and consumerist society.
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- Inspiration -
Campbell's Soup Cans by Warhol, 1962
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Andy Warhol is known as a pioneer of the pop art movement, specifically his use of repetition and patterns as well as bright neon's within his work. Two of his most iconic works, Campbell's Soup Cans and Shot Marilyn's demonstrate this widely known style the most. When looking at Soup Cans Warhol uses repetition of the singular subject (soup). This creates a unity within this piece, there being a symmetrical balance as well. I wanted to utilize this repetition as well as the fact that each subject is on its own individual canvas/area. This use of space would be able to show the different aspects of my own works, akin to Warhol.
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Untitled from Marilyn Monroe by Warhol, 1967
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Additionally there is a consistent line within the first piece, this makes the subjects even more unified. Each is clearly defined from the white background. While each subject is on its own panel separate from each other it is almost like they were copied and pasted mechanically. This in my opinion pushes the artificial aspect of goods and services and how insatiable one can be, instead of just one soup can in the piece there are multiple all looking the same.
Shot Marylin's uses a high amount of contrast with little to no shading. Using simple colors (four colors in total) Warhol is able to achieve the desired screen print. The color, while simplistic is very clean creating defining shapes within the piece. While there is no clearly defined line work (the image being a realistic shot of Marilyn Monroe) the color and the subject don't 100% line up, this creates space between the color and the image, almost creating a 3D effect. This is something i had also wanted to emulate because I think the purposeful messiness/imperfection of the piece would be able to show the more carnal nature of consumerism and societies need to buy. This is similar to my last piece of inspiration as well.
25 Cats Name[d] Sam and One Blue Pussy by Warhol, 1954
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25 Cats is part of a series by Warhol of one singular subject, a cat named Sam. These illustrations utilize a singular shape of color with simple lines to create loosely defined and rounded subjects. There is no shading within the subjects, however there is the use of texture with varied line length/thickness to represent the cats fur as well as adding definition to the cats face. Since I had wanted to add an animistic aspect to my piece this inspiration heavily influenced me. Specifically, the way the overall presentation of the subject is very simple with simplistic detailing as well.
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- Planning -
When initially planning what I wanted my illustration to look like, I had wanted to replicate the use of space and shape used by both my initial inspirations. I wanted to see what this could hypothetically look like, so I created a color pallet and made a rough digital mock-up of what I could do for my final piece. When I had begun my process this was the initial idea I was sticking with, the plan being to have one big illustration board with four separate squares to hold my individual subjects. I wanted my work to contain several neon's due to Warhol's own use of the color as well. The overall messaging of my piece was meant to be a critique on consumerism and how much advertising has impacted society and the way the consumer views
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Focusing on the overall subjects I had first wanted to lean into the movement of retro-futurism, something that was prevalent during Warhol's time. This movement focused on the consumption of futuristic products intended to make life easier while showing a polished perfect (mechanical) future. This proposed future/aesthetic was still influenced by the suburban Americanized nature of the 1960's creating a now vintage perspective on what the future could have been. This influence of retro-futurism would allow me to show the sleek nature of advertisements and how it is still prevalent within today's society.
Since I wanted my piece to criticize the constant consumerism within society I decided to frame the human aspect of the piece as something animalistic. Similar to the phrase 'lab rat' I wanted to have a rat as one of the subjects to show how in our face advertising and the need to buy has become and how we as the consumer cannot really do anything about it. Similarly I also created products and infamous advertising statements like '50% off' with retro-futuristic influences to further emphasize what I wanted to achieve with my piece.
- Process & Experimentation -
This piece's process was very experimental for me, each iteration of the work not exactly portraying what I had wanted it to. Initially I cut an illustration board into 38 cm X 38 cm. This was to create a square shape that would better portray the pop art influences of Warhol. To be even closer to Warhol I had initially left the board blank and created smaller neon squares to be attached to the board, this closely follows the presentation of Shot Marilyn. This would have created a makeshift frame for my subjects, however I did not like the way this had looked and as a result I added starburst cutouts of varying colors similar to ones you would see on advertisements. These shapes were something I enjoyed because it acted as a motif of advertisement.
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After I added the cutouts I revisited the original idea of having a 'frame' around the subjects. Cutting out another illustration board to add more depth I made smaller squares again and laid them out on the background to see how they would look. However this presentation covered most of the cutouts and did not appear as polished as I wanted to. I had also experimented with filling in some of the white space within the background, intending to create a more chaotic space. This also did not appear how I wanted it to so I scrapped that Idea.
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After this initial experimentation I decided that I wouldn't replicate Warhol's use of framing, instead having the background be the repetition/pattern and creating more rounder subjects as seen in 25 cats.
Before creating the first subject I first sketched out a rough outline of the shape I wanted it to have. Similar to 25 Cats I wanted this subject to be very round. To contrast with the background I decided to make each subject in gray-scale, only using charcoal as the main medium for each. I wanted the rat to look somewhat realistic so I made sure to blend out the darker areas to create a softer less defined outline. This was contrasted with the more simple lines seen in the face and tail, the rats tail being directly inspired by 25 cats.
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Similar to the first subject I had also created a rat skull with a somewhat realistic style. This would contrast with the rat, demonstrating the negative aspect of advertising.
I had also created two other subjects, creating a total of four subjects. I wanted my piece to seem somewhat balanced, and as a result I had an even amount of subjects. The other two subjects were direct call outs of advertising. One being a TV and the other being a price tag. Specifically, the TV was the darkest subject of the illustration. This is due to the fact that I wanted it to be the most contrasted subject within the piece. |
After completing each subject I finally attached them to the background. When considering how I wanted to place the subjects I knew I had wanted to have the rat and the skull parallel to each other. This was also reflected with the price tag and TV once I figured out the correct placement for each.
- Critique -
Similarities:
- Both Shot Marilyn and 25 cats use a simple bright color scheme to bring attention to their subjects. While I approach color in a different way (instead of incorporating it into the subject by placing it in the background) the effect is still the same. My background brings the viewers attention to the subjects due to the obvious contrast between both the subjects and the background.
-My illustrations use of space is similar to Campbell's. I wanted my illustration to be sectioned off into four different sections in order to appear balanced. Each subject is surrounded by their own outline, furthering this separation. This is similar to the literal frames that are used within Campbell's as well.
-My illustrations use of space is similar to Campbell's. I wanted my illustration to be sectioned off into four different sections in order to appear balanced. Each subject is surrounded by their own outline, furthering this separation. This is similar to the literal frames that are used within Campbell's as well.
Differences:
- Unlike each inspiration my illustrations subjects are complete gray-scale with no extra color for detail. Instead the color is all relegated to the background. This creates a strong contrast between my subjects, this being furthered by the white outline around each subject. While this was meant to replicate the blocky/defined use of color in Marilyn it opposes the simplistic use of color in the two other inspirations.
-While 25 Cats use no shading for its subject, instead simply using line to accentuate the subjects figure my subjects need softer shading in order to stand out from its background. This causes a more semi-realistic style to be created with my subjects, the rat in particular only taking a few notes in line work from 25 Cats.
-While 25 Cats use no shading for its subject, instead simply using line to accentuate the subjects figure my subjects need softer shading in order to stand out from its background. This causes a more semi-realistic style to be created with my subjects, the rat in particular only taking a few notes in line work from 25 Cats.
- Reflection -
This piece and its process was very experimental for me, using charcoal as a main contrast for this piece was something enjoyable. Charcoal itself allowing me to create soft darks with less defined line work creating a purposeful mess, something that contrasts the somewhat manufactured appearance of pop art/Warhol. This illustration also allowed me to create multiple aspects of a piece and then later combine them all into one piece, something that I enjoy doing with my process. Using the bright pop tones of neon and then off-setting that with somewhat darker subjects is also something I enjoy doing as well. Overall I do think my critique on advertising could be stronger however with this experimental piece I am satisfied with the end product. If I were to remake this piece I would attempt to further emphasize the overall message, possibly creating a more chronological story within the illustration to further demonstrate the impacts of advertisements and consumption.
- Connections to the ACT -
1) Clearly explain how you were able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your art?
My piece contains bright neons as well as a balanced space due to the way Warhol uses these aspects within his own works. I wanted my own piece to appear balanced, being able to be sectioned off by the audience into fourths, similar to one of the several iterations of Shot Marilyn.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The most notable aspect between mine and Warhol's works is the color. Using bright clear defined shapes is a signature of Warhol's works, even being seen it 25 Cats with the singular color of the subject. I apply this to my illustrations background to create my own emphasis.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures etc. while you researched your inspiration?
How the Pop art movement was influenced by consumerism and how things like screen printing can create perfect replicas of a subject while using different values/colors to create contrasting imagery.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
When looking for inspiration I had wanted to find pieces that could correlate to advertising/the artificial nature of advertising. I wanted my illustration to replicate the somewhat nonsensical nature of pop art so finding iconic imagery from this movement was also important.
5) What kinds of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I learned about the importance of color when it comes to art and how even works with separate subjects can come together to be cohesive.
- Citations -
“Andy Warhol’s Cats Name Sam - for Sale on Artsy.” Artsy, www.artsy.net/artist-series/andy-warhol-cats-name-sam. Accessed 17 Oct. 2023.
MoMA. “Campbell’s Soup Cans.” The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, 2010, www.moma.org/collection/works/79809.
Warhol, Andy. “Untitled from Marilyn Monroe.” The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, 2019, www.moma.org/collection/works/61239
MoMA. “Campbell’s Soup Cans.” The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, 2010, www.moma.org/collection/works/79809.
Warhol, Andy. “Untitled from Marilyn Monroe.” The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, 2019, www.moma.org/collection/works/61239