Andy Warhol

Art Evaluation
Andy Warhol is one of the most well-known and documented
artists of the 20th century, in this essay I will analyze his work on
the basis of the formal elements of art, form, shape, colour, line
and space. Although I have listed the elements of art above, there
will only be certain elements present in Andy Warhol's work, so I
will only be analyzing the elements present within Andy Warhol's
work. Although I am quite sure that Andy Warhols work utilizes
most of these elements, so I will contain brief explanations of
those.

In this work, it is blatantly obvious that the most dominant formal

element is shape and colour, line is also used, but not to the same
degree as colour and shape. This piece demonstrates how shape
and colour can work together to in turn create the illusion of depth
and form. This is one of Andy Warhol's most famous works, I
personally think the reason it is so popular and well known, is

because of it's simplicity. Although many of the people who view

Warhol's work are not clued-in to how much effort went into
creating this "Simple" piece of artwork. This piece "Marylin" was
created by Andy Warhol in 1967 using the Screenprinting
Technique. This technique allowed Warhol' to mass produce
paintings. This piece was the most noted piece Warhol created
using the screenprinting technique. The screen printing technique
utilizes the formal elements colour, space and shape. This piece
displays Warhols' noted and famous use of bright colours, like
many other Pop Art artists, such as Roy Lichtenstien.
I'd say that Andy Warhol has a very simplistic and somewhat
campy style throughout his artwork. His work is almost always
fun and light hearted, without too much detail or too little. I think
the reason his work is always casual is becuase this enables the
general public to relate to the work, as Pop Art was meant to make
art more understandable to the public eye, moving away from the
more formal abstract art of shall we say, Salvador Dali, which is
very cerebral and complex in it's artistic nature. Pop Art was
meant to stray away from the hierarchy within art culture and
make art more prominent in the mainstream and public culture.
While bright colours are something that's prevalent in most Pop
Art, no other Pop Artist uses colour the same way as Andy
Warhol, so while the colours are comparable to other Pop Art, they
are also something unique to Warhol' himself.
Tone is also present within this specific piece ("Marylin"). This is
also something that is comparable with other Pop Artists, but is
also unique to Warhol' himself. The tonal values are created by the
original photographs Warhol' used to create the pieces using the
screenprinting technique not the technique itself. As the photo he
used was black and white, the only places that are affected by
colour are the areas with more exposure or light colours, although
the paint would've also made the dark areas darker. So I'll

contradict myself here and say that in actual fact, the technique
Warhol used actually did have an affect on the tonal values of the
photographs.
The colour is also somewhat important in portraying a mood or
feeling, so I think Warhol used brighter colours to give the
paintings a more general and fun mood, rather than something
which wouldn't neccesarily appeal to the masses, such as macabre
or shock art.

This next piece is one of Andy Warhols earlier pieces from his
younger years, this picure demontrates the elements of colour and
line, this piece was created using the blotted line technique,
something that is also unique to Andy Warhols work. The blotted
line technique is something that I feel gives Warhols work a sense
of campy-ness and elegance, that you'd find in classical fashion
illustration.
The main key elements of this work are colour and line. The lines
are seperated by regular blank space, this is because when using
the blotted line technique it is very difficult to create a single,
consistent line although this is what gives it it's element of
elegance and sophisitcated charm. The line art has then been
simply filled in using paint, although Warhol regularly used
materials such as Gold Leaf to fill in his blotted line work. The
paint has dryed into a texture than looks like marble, as the
colours have varieties of the same hues, within the specific
sections of paint. I would say that Warhol used watercolour paints
to fill in his blotted line work, as the "marble" effect is something
that is unique to watercolour paints. Despite the marble effect of
the watercolour paint, no effort has been made to distinquish
shading or form, although you could say that the blotted line
technique already covers this. I do not think that the blotted line

technique displays elements of form, but shape instead, as the

human form and animal form would be categorized as organic
shapes. I also think that the blotted line technique gives a subtle
illusion of movement, as lines usually blur when shall we say, a
person wiggles a piece of line work to give an effect.

The colours used are, purple, two shades of green, two shades or
tones of pink, brown and a flesh tone. I'm not sure if the shade or

tone on the paper was painted or an effect left from the piece
being scanned or photographed.
The piece displays a women teasing or playing with her dog by
holding a flower above the chair the dog is positioned on, this
gives the piece a fun and relaxed vibe, while the objects and
clothing featured give it a more elegant feel. It doesn't say if the
work is of someone Warhol knew or of a model on the Warhol.org
website. I would assume because of the light-hearted an undetailed nature that it was a random piece.

Blotted Line Technique

In this section I will be explaining the Blotted Ink technique and

possibly giving an example, I will only be explaining the Blotted
Line technique as Screen printing is much too technical to do at
home. The blotted line technique is a technique that is very easy to
do and creates a lovely elegant and printed effect when used. It is
good for creating copies of work that are all slightly unique in
their own ways.
The technique was learned by Warhol at an early age. Warhol
created numerous works using this technique, and filling in the
blotted lines with Gold Leaf or watercolour paints. Most of
Warhol's blotted line drawings were either of shoes, models or
clothes.
The process of the technique goes as follows;

1. Create a sketch on paper that doesn't really absorb well using

a caligraphy pen with ink, or an ink pen, this could be tracing
paper, or the shiny paper you find in magazines or books.
2.
Get a piece of paper that does absorb well, and then press the
first sketch (the side of the paper that you have drawn on)
onto the other piece, hold for a couple of seconds and take or
peel away.
3. You should now have a completed blotted line technique
work! Wait for the ink to dry and then start painting the
work if you wish to.
Examples;

A Brief Explanation of Screen Printing

Screen Printing is a technique where by you use a silk-screen to
make copies of work, this technique is primarily used for printing
and duplication purposes, this could be applied to clothes, art
work and packaging.

Screen Printing starts with the creation of a silk-screen, this is

done by wrapping polyester over one side of a frame, covering it
with Photo Emulsion and then leaving it to dry in a completely
pitch black room. After the emulsion is dry you then set up an
exposure are, for example a dark room with a lamp, before you do
this however, you cut out an image or drawing you want to create
print out of, making sure it is completely black and not too
detailed, you leave this shape in the middle of the screen while the
paint is reacting. You then expose the screen to light for a certain
amount of time. After that you wash of the Photo Emulsion off of
the screen and leave to dry. After this you simply press the silk
screen onto the material you want to print, drag a squeegee over
the side which is touchable with paint of your choice and then take
away the silk screen.

The creation of a silk screen.

Adding the material to the frame.

Emulsion.

Painting the material using a squegee.

Washing the emulsion off.

Drying the painted screen.

Placing the screen on top of a shirt and dragging a

squeegee with acrylic paint over it.

Drying printed shirt.