Supplementary Post #7

For my final supplementary post, I would like to discuss an artist who can also be in the category of celebrity. Although definition of celebrity has changed throughout history, fine artists also had enormous spotlights on them by not only the people in the art world and art industry, but also the public. One of the biggest example of an artist who is known for his stardom is Andy Warhol. His famous quote,

"                                                                                                                                                        "

is a sensational quote during the time, being very true in modern society. The development of social media has heightened the the possibility of normal people to achieve attention.

Andy Warhol is an interesting artist since he has led the movement called Pop Art, which shattered the barrier of what was considered high art (oil painting and sculpture) by integrating pop culture (e.g. Campbell soup cans, cartoons, Coca-Cola, etc.). He was notorious for having a persona of innocence and light-headedness, even though some of his artworks have critical interpretations to them. The public, thus, had a hard time deciphering him from his persona or image and his true self. 

His background as an illustrator for fashion advertisements might have affected him to realize the impact of stars or name values to the culture and society. He would not only create works of art dedicated to celebrities and major figures of his times but also hang out with stars of the 60s to the early 80s. Furthermore, he played a role of finding new stars in the art scene. Warhol was a great friend and mentor for the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Although Basquiat was a terrific artist who was emerging in the art scene of New York even before he met Warhol, their friendship had an effect of furthering his star-artist status. 

I think in modern society, artists are not exactly considered as celebrities or stars like the actors and actresses of Hollywood--but in the art world, rookies do emerge. Nowadays for artists, it is hard to be popular throughout the general public because they may be considered as a sell-out. Visual art is often has harsh requirements to be considered as pure or fine art. For instance, one should not be creating commercial art, and paintings should not be for decorating a living room. I think this heightened standard pressure for artists to be "true artists" distances them from being loved across different audiences. Warhol was successful at managing the commercial but the fine art side. Additionally, his persona of "seeming-clueless-but-actually-not-so-much" helped him to draw people's attentions, which is quite similar to modern day stars and celebrities.