Born on August 6, 1928, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Andy Warhol became a leading artist and expertise of the 1960's Pop art movement using avant-grade and highly commercial sensibilities.
He was born in a poor obscurity of an Eastern European family, but emerged out and found a place in the circles of the High Society. His creativity was ventured into many art forms like writing, performance art, filmmaking etc.
His found his artistic root when he was 8 years of age. At this time, he caught cholera and was bedridden for many months. His mom being a skilful artist gave him drawing lessons. It then became one of his childhood pastime. He was also a fan of movies, and at the age of 9 he took photography.
He took free art classes at Carnegie Institute, and at the age of 14 his father died and seeing Andy's artistic skills, he put his life savings in Warlon's school education.
After graduation, he pursued his career as a commercial artist and moved to New York. In 1950s, he became one of the most successful commercial artist after landing in a job with Glamour magazine.
By the late 1950s, he devoted most of his time to painting and in 1961 he brought out the concept "pop art". It is basically a painting that focuses on mass produced commercial goods.
He exhibited the now iconic paintings of Campbell's soup can in 1962. His paintings from the early 1960s were important in pioneering his development. He continued painting throughout his career but retired from it in 1965.
Some his popular pop paintings( more info on blouin artinfo) that made him popular were subjects on Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Mao Zedong and Mick Jagger.
In 2008, "Eight Elvises" was eventually resold for &100 million making it one of the world's valuable paintings in the world.
He shifted his medium to make experimental films and these films have gain and attracted widespread interest . He is now known as the father of independent film as he is seen as one of the most important filmmakers of the period.
He was criticised heavily and critics seen his career declining in 1968 after he was shot by Valerie Solanas. Yet, his legacy prefigured the diverse activities, interests that occupy the minds of many artist today.
To know more about Andy Warhol's Painting, Graphic Art, Digital Art, Cinema, Photography please visit http://www.blouinartinfo.com/artists/andy-warhol-69
