"They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.

" - Andy Warhol

Figure 1: Self Portrait (1967) Those were the wise words of the first pop star of the world, Andy Warhol. Warhol, a CzechSlovakian descent, started out as a commercial artist grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. He graduated with a degree in Pictorial Design from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in 1949. (The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts) During his early years, he worked for fashion magazines like Glamour, Vogue and Harpers Bazaar as a professional graphic designer. Glamour art director, Tina Fredricks, was a contributor to the start of Warhols successful career. He submitted his drawings to her for a project but she could not find a commercial use of it and told him that drawing of shoes would be most appropriate. So, he came back with 50 drawings of shoes that had never been drawn before like the way he did. With that, his first exhibition, Golden Shoes were showcased in the Madison Avenue exhibition. He is an inspiration to me because of the techniques he used in his artwork were very unique. As an artist, he progressed by continuously exploring and trying different mediums and methods to make amazing work. Some of his well-known techniques are the blotted line technique and the process of using of silkscreen on canvas.

A blotted line technique is the use of dotted, broken and delicate lines to piece up a painting. It is to draw what we call the outline of the shape now. This was a trademark in his early paintings. After having drawn his blotted lines, Warhol would use watercolour dyes or applied gold leaf to do he finishing touches to it. The birth of pop art happened when Warhol used photographs and printed them on a silkscreen canvas. Afterwards, he would paint them. The most captivating thing about Pop Art is that there is always a variation in colours in each image. When Warhol said "I'm afraid that if you look at a thing long enough, it loses all of its meaning." Charles Moffat, November 2007, I now understand what he meant. The same piece of artwork becomes a stalemate when it is viewed many times over, therefore shaking it up and adding new dimensions to it would certainly allow a different kind of creative energy to flow. He always had a variation of artwork and example of that would be of Marilyn Monroe as seen in the following figure.

Figure 2: Marilyn Monroe (1964) His legacy of pop art still lives on because of the interesting element of the same image with different colours printed on it. Today, we can definitely say that his work has transcended mediums. It used to be paint and canvas but with the advance technology, camera applications like Photo booth on Mac OSX platform adapted his idea and it becomes a photo effect in the application itself. This leads me to my other point of having the privilege to visit his exhibition last year in Singapore. Part of his exhibition was a photo booth with props that represented him as an artist. The ribbon and the crown, I guess, were moments in his life when he felt that his artwork was a gift to the art industry and he ruled the art world respectively. I love how the colours turned out to be because this machine has been programmed to use the great feature of Pop Art that Warhol brought not only to the art industry but also to the world of photography.

Figure 3: Photograph from Andy Warhol's Photo booth Exhibition in Singapore When I was there, I got to witness his less known work when he first started out as an artist. It was the Silver Clouds (1944) exhibition. This artwork of his is a representation of being free and enjoying life despite experiencing hard times. The silver or rather, the metallic colour is normally associated with it being heavy in terms of weight. The balloons, however, was filled with helium that which, by itself, stays afloat. But if it is given a push or a kick, it will float higher. The message behind this is artwork is that you may feel the stress or downside of life but if you push your thoughts to be positive, you will be able to achieve more than you imagine. He also said People need to be made more aware of the need to work at learning how to live because life is so quick and sometimes it goes away too quickly. Charles Moffat, November 2007.

Figure 4: Silver Clouds (1944) Warhols artworks were not always made up of canvas and paint but also real life exhibition where you could experience his artwork by being part of it. I adore and appreciate how he always think of reaching out to the crowd and make them be apart his creations.

List of Illustrations: Figure 1 Self Portrait 1986 [Painting] at http://www.tate.org.uk/art/images/work/T/T07/T07146_10.jpg accessed on 25 September 2013 Figure 2 Marilyn Monroe, 1962, Grey Marilyn Monroe, 1967 at http://wp.auburn.edu/humsci/wpcontent/uploads/2012/12/W9721.jpg accessed on 25 September 2013 Figure 3 Djohar, A. (2012). Photo booth [Photograph] In possession of: Ayunie Djohar, Rochester Figure 4 Silver Clouds, 1966 at http://killingthebuddha.com/wpcontent/articleimages/15_Andy_Warhol_Silver_Clouds_1966_300dpi.jpg accessed on 25 September 2013

List of Bibliography: The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Andy Warhol Biography- Pop Artist and Cultural Icon http://www.warholfoundation.org/legacy/biography.html Accessed on 25 September 2013 Moffat, Charles November 2007 The Prince of Pop Art http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/popart/Andy-Warhol.html Accessed on 25 September 2013