Inspiration from Andy Warhol

I went to see the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Art Institute in Chicago the other day and found that it gave me a couple of inspirations as a photographer. You will probably not guess what they are, and how Warhol inspires you may be completely different.

My first inspiration was a tiny thing. Two of Warhol’s stitched photographs pieces were on display. I had no idea these were a particular Warhol thing.  I was curious, though, about the idea. To me it seems like a play on words: in current parlance, we use digital stitching to combine photos into a larger image such as a panorama. Here, Andy Warhol was combining identical or similar photos into a quiltlike tapestry of images using actual thread and a sewing machine. What the heck? I haven’t been able to find out if “stitching” was also used to refer to blending film negatives to produce a composite images as in Jerry Uelsmann’s work.

Andy Warhol, Stitched Photographs, detail

Photo: Anne Houde

In any case, my takeaway was the idea that maybe I could print images on fabric and sew them together to do a more literal quilting project. There are several online places that will print on a variety of fabrics. Then what? What would the larger idea be? Why would I want to combine images this way? 

See here for more on Andy Warhol’s stitched images

My next inspiration is larger. This chronological exhibition of the works of Andy Warhol showed me that his largest and most famous body of work came out of one basic photograph-based technique: silk-screen ink over acrylic paint. This makes it easy to recognize a Warhol work, yet he was able to do so much with it! Ok, what is the inspiration, then? Simply that an artist can grab onto a signature technique and use it to build a wildly successful career exploring a variety of subjects. I saw Walhol’s iconic Marylin, Jackie, and Mao portraits, flowers, skulls, Coke bottles, self-portraits, abstracts, and the Last Supper with camouflage, all done by layering painting with silk-screen ink. (This is not to say that there were not other factors that went into making Andy Warhol a notable, notorious, and wildly successful artist!)

Here is one panel of Flowers, and a detail showing the silk-screen over acrylic technique.

Andy Warhol, Flowers. Photo: Anne Houde

Flowers, detail. Notice how black pattern is screen-printed over red paint.

Also notice reflection of a Mao portrait in upper right.

Photo: Anne Houde

My take-away lesson, and perhaps yours too, is we may be able to find a technique that unleashes our creativity and run with it. For those of us who haven’t found our signature way of making art yet, this is our permission to experiment and push our limits! What will we try next?