Hungry For Soup

It's no secret I'm an Andy Warhol devotee. He's where I got interested in commercial art, pop art and screen printing. I always found it funny that Warhol was pretty much the last to jump on the Pop Art bandwagon, yet he mananged to be the most commercially successful of all the Pop Artists. Honestly, I think he really just wanted to be a rock star without having to play an instrument or sing.

I go through periods of my 'love/hate' relationship with Warhol. He was way more sophisticated and clever than he led on, I believe, and his work still holds relevance today. His work is worth millions on the aftermarket, and yet, maybe the public is a bit too nostalgic and sentimental about the 1960s, when Warhol really took to the international stage, but I also feel his work can be frustratingly great and overrated at the same time, as well as his work setting a bar so high, no one today can really reach that level of notoriety in the Pop Art Genre. (Perhaps that is where my frustration has always lied.)

So, when I'm kind of on my Anti-Warhol kick (because every artist rebells againast their teachers from time to time), I create prints like this "Generic Brand Soup" piece. It's tongue-in-cheek, for sure, poking playful fun at Warhol's well-known 'Campbell's Soup Cans' as well as creating more dialogue about the nature of commercialization, Pop Art itself, and perhaps, where Pop Art is heading in the future. (I'm not sure it's really going anywhere, to be honest. I think it's just making circles with the same stuff being regurgitated over and over. Of course, I'm guilty of that too.)

I really do love Warhol and his work. I work hard to distance myself from his influence, at times, but I think he is far too ingrained in my subconscious to ignore completely. He certainly didn't invent screen printing, but I think he was the one who really made it exciting for the fine art world.

Anyhow, this new print does make me happy about adding it to the portfolio. It's a piece I wanted to do for myself and not for a client or commission, which I haven't done much of in recent years. Little things like this help spur more creativity in me (especially in times when I think I have nothing left to give.) The print measures 6" x 8", a three color serigraph (a fancy word for screenprint) on Accent Opaque White 100lb cover, S/N edition of 20. You can find the print available here.