Andy Warhol/Ana Mendieta

Turquoise Marilyn (1964)

Self Portrait (1986)

Andy Warhol was a prolific figure in the 1960’s. He was a leading artist in the pop art movement. He achieved this status by becoming a successful magazine and ad illustrator. A few of Warhol’s themes is everyday objects, portraits, and shocking scenes.  Andy Warhol's parents are Slovakian immigrants. He was born into a poor family; his dad being a construction worker and his mom being an embroiderer. When Warhol contracted Chorea-a rare disease of the nervous system which kept him bedridden for months, his mom kept him busy by giving him drawing lessons. This began Warhol’s interest in the arts. His mother bought him a camera at the age of nine, which became another art form he enjoyed. Warhol’s mother, being an artist herself, was an influence on his interest in the arts. Although Warhol was never open about his background and personal life, I believe his overall interest in pop culture and consumerism was why he created work the way he did. The fact that Warhol came from immigrant parents and lived a poor childhood influenced the way he saw pop culture and consumerism. The way he viewed himself and others also influenced his art. He was very critical of pop culture and consumerism, specifically in America, but he was also fascinated by it. He had his own taste for money and fame. Warhol’s subjects were usually celebrities because one of his themes was pop culture. His obsession with celebrities and their look also played a part in how he saw himself. When Warhol was eight he began to lose pigment in his skin. He developed acne and rosacea. He was teased by other children because of it. Later in his life, he tried to improve his appearance constantly. He tried to get his nose sanded, used collagen to minimize wrinkles, and used wigs to cover up hair loss. You could see these changes in his self-portraits. Warhol was also not afraid to use photography tricks to enhance his looks. In his autobiography, Warhol wrote “I believe in low lights and trick mirrors. A person is entitled to the lighting they need…” The idea of Warhol changing his appearance reminds me of a quote by Susan Sontag from “On Photography” which reads, “Photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world so much as pieces of it, miniatures of reality that anyone can make or acquire.” Warhol’s self-portraits did not encapsulate his whole world but a part of it. It was only a piece of his whole reality. It is easy to invent your public self through a camera lens because you only show a miniature piece of reality. Warhol began to become synonymous with his work because he critiqued pop culture and consumerism but began being obsessed with his own self-image, fame, and making money. Pop art is a perfect technique to show pop culture. It expresses the glitz, glam, and pop of celebrities. It added a pop to regular images. I believe Andy Warhol invented his public self through the presentation of his works, although he wanted to believe he was inventing himself. A quote by John Berger reads, “Glamour cannot exist without personal social envy being a common and widespread emotion” (148). I believe this applies to Warhol because he was envious of the way celebrities looked and wanted to be like them. He used that envy to make art and made himself glamorous. He seemed glamorous on the outside, but he was still far from it inside.

Untitled (Rape Scene) 1973

Alma, Silueta en Fuego (Soul, Silhouette on Fire) (still)
1975

            Ana Mendieta is similar to Warhol in which both of their life experiences and where/how they grew up influenced their works. Ana Mendieta was born in Havana, Cuba. She was separated from her Cuban family to become an adopted refugee in America. She felt like an outsider growing up in the Midwest. Some of Mendieta’s prevalent themes are feminism, belonging, and violence. Being born in Havana, Mendieta was exposed to the beauty of nature. That influenced her beliefs and artwork. She felt disconnected from where she belonged. She felt whole again when she would unite herself with earth because she felt we are all one with earth. She created many earth/body sculptures and used herself as a subject because of that fact. I believe it was Mendieta’s goal to become synonymous with her work. Her work gave her a sense of belonging. She was not trying to be anyone else. I believe Mendieta’s fame only fueled her artwork. She earned many opportunities, such as joining the Artists In Residence Inc in New York (the first gallery in the U.S. for women artists to be established) and being awarded the Rome Prize. She was able to create artwork in many places. Mendieta utilized earth’s natural resources to create her sculptures. Mendieta used sand, rocks, leaves, and fire in her work. Mendieta would set fire to her silhouettes on the ground. The fire could mean anger or violence, but it could also symbolize the renewal of life through the warmth of flames. These materials were important because she felt closer to where she belonged. Mendieta also uses blood to portray violence and a sense of loss. This is portrayed in Untitled (Death of a Chicken) 1972 and Untitled (Rape Scene), both done while she was a student at the University of Iowa. I believe Mendieta invented herself through her work. Mendieta’s Untitled (Rape Scene) relates to John Berger’s quote, "To be naked is to be without disguise" (Berger 54). Mendieta opens her body to the public, as she does in many other works. She has mastered being comfortable while naked. She doesn’t need a disguise. It also reminds me of another quote by Berger which states “A naked body has to be seen as an object in order to become a nude" (54). In her Untitled (Rape Scene) she is showing that a woman is seen as an object when she is raped but the viewer is forced to see her as a person. 

Works Cited

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing ; a Book Made by John Berger. British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books, 1972.

Brown, E. (2018). Andy Warhol And His Artistic Influence. [online] Culture Trip. Available at: https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/articles/andy-warhol-and-his-artistic-influence/ [Accessed 21 Mar. 2018].

Susansontag.com. (2018). Susan Sontag. [online] Available at: http://www.susansontag.com/SusanSontag/books/onPhotographyExerpt.shtml [Accessed 21 Mar. 2018].

Tate Kids. (2018). Who is Andy Warhol? – Who Are They? | Tate Kids. [online] Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/kids/explore/who-is/who-andy-warhol [Accessed 21 Mar. 2018].

Tate. (2018). ‘Untitled (Rape Scene)’, Ana Mendieta, 1973 | Tate. [online] Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/mendieta-untitled-rape-scene-t13355 [Accessed 21 Mar. 2018].

The Art Story. (2018). Ana Mendieta Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works. [online] Available at: http://www.theartstory.org/artist-mendieta-ana.htm [Accessed 21 Mar. 2018].

Warhol, A. (2018). Andy Warhol. [online] Biography. Available at: https://www.biography.com/people/andy-warhol-9523875 [Accessed 21 Mar. 2018].