art

(Re)mix

This past summer, I took a trip down to Pittsburgh to visit the Andy Warhol Museum. This art museum, dedicated to the infamous artist known for being a tour de force in the pop art scene, had been on my bucket list of Pittsburgh museums to visit, and it did not disappoint.

While traversing the seven floors of Warhol’s artistic life, certain pieces really popped (pun intended) out to me, especially after recently completing a survey course in my art history class that included a few prominent Warhol pieces.

Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, c.1484-86. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.

What I didn’t expect to find amidst all of the 1960’s-80’s art included a Warhol original remix edition of Botticelli’s renaissance classic painting, Birth of Venus. Gone was her golden hair, the idyllic coastline, or the mythological figures floating around Venus that I critiqued in many art history essays; instead, Warhol focused just on her face, transformed her gilded hair into a new kind of a colorful masterpiece, and then repeated this print over. And over. And over again.

Andy Warhol, Details of Renaissance Paintings (Botticelli, Birth of Venus, 1484-86), 1984. The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA.

The question that I had, and that I’m sure you’re all having, is why? Why did Warhol, and many other artists, deliberately chose to incorporate paintings or prints from the past (or their present) and re-purpose them for their own artistic uses?

Simply put, these artists, especially Warhol, picked infamous images and collected them together to make sense of the world around them. By going back to classical antiquity with Venus, or by infusing culturally-known products, such as Campbell’s Soup, into his works, Warhol essentially was making a commentary about the society he knew in the one way he know how–through his art.

Altogether, the art world, to a certain extent, is known for drawing inspiration from others–and this is something that is celebrated! Learning about the connections certain artists had to one another, and seeing those features in the other’s artwork, adds another layer of depth and appreciation to the piece as a whole–something that, when done right, can make art even more beautiful and important to society.

Stayin’ Alive

In a world that is becoming more and more focused on the digital side of life, the joys of opening up a book, hurriedly flipping a page to get to the next chapter, or even walking into a cozy bookstore are all aspects that are thought to waver in comparison to the sleek and thin computer. How are books, their contents, and artworks of all kinds staking their claim amidst all of this?

One simple answer includes the use of a platform that people love, hate, and talk about constantly: social media. Social media, no matter one’s opinion on it, cannot be denied the fact that it quickly sends information to large audiences within seconds. Publishing companies, booksellers, and museums are aware of this, and their social media accounts reflect the pursuit of getting literature and art into people’s news feeds–and inherently into their lives as well.

Here are some examples of a few standout social media pages from the Humanities world that I can’t get enough of:

  • @SparkNotes on Twitter. While SparkNotes.com is a great resource to supplement (and not to replace) readings, their Twitter feed is full of the greatest jokes, memes, and everything in-between. Come here for some of the funniest literary jokes imaginable!
  • @BNBuzz on Twitter. Barnes & Noble, the largest book retailer in America, showcases on their social medias quotes, fun facts, and sketches from recognizable and infamous authors. One of my favorite features that they have includes “On This Day,” which displays a famous literary quote on the author’s birthday.
  • @metmuseum on Instagram. Similar to B&N, The Metropolitan Museum of Art also posts several #onthisday pictures/videos, but something that also gets people to interact with The Met’s artwork collection occurs on their Stories. Each week, The Met uses the Stories function as a guessing game; they test their followers with true/false questions about a piece in a certain collection being featured that week. Simple in design, this is an interaction that both teaches and entertains followers.

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“I approach painting in the same way one approaches drawing; that is, it’s direct. I don’t work from drawings.”—Jackson Pollock⁣⁣ ⁣ Jackson Pollock was born on this day in 1912. A legendary figure in the history of modern art, Pollock was a leading practitioner of gesture painting, a branch of the avant-garde movement known as Abstract Expressionism. In 1947, he developed a radical new technique of pouring and dripping thinned paint onto raw canvas laid on the ground. Visit “Epic Abstraction: Pollock to Herrera” and see a gallery featuring highlights from The Met collection of Pollock’s work. #MetEpicAbstraction #JacksonPollock #TheMet⁣⁣ ____⁣⁣ Artwork: Jackson Pollock (American, 1912–1956). Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), 1950. Enamel on canvas. © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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All of these accounts, while being similar in their field of study, incorporate different tactics to reign in followers to the literature and art side of the Internet. Whether through memes, quotes, or games, one thing is for certain: books and art won’t be going anywhere soon.

Modern Age

I remember the days before technology really hit my life at full speed. The vacations my family took always included a mandatory stop to Wal-Mart to either buy disposable (not digital) cameras or to develop the film from said cameras. At home, I had a handwritten contacts page with all of my friends’ phone numbers on it, and I would even–imagine this–call them on my landline in my house.

When I think back to these times, I remember them fondly and very vividly. My parents and many, many others argue that it was a simpler time before social media; nobody cared about selfies, #hashtags, or filters. And perhaps I see things differently because social media has been more present in my life than in theirs, and I know how it really brings people together from all over the world.

Even more important than just connecting with others, social media has really changed the literary and art worlds as we know it today. Print magazines might be dwindling, but that doesn’t mean that the writers, photographers, or models are going anywhere; thanks to social media and the Internet, many publications (like Vogue, Teen Vogue, Glamour, etc.) post articles daily, and their audience has now grown to encompass the many millions instead of the few thousand.

A visitor using The Met’s audio guide. Simply snap a pic of the art, and voilà! There’s now a story in your hands and art before your eyes.

In the art world, location-based narratives have transformed the way that people look at art, especially in museums. The millions of people that visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Musée du Louvre each day might never have taken an art history class, yet, thanks to the technology of the modern age, by simply downloading an app or signing up for an audio tour, people can now learn so much about what art stands before them and the amazing stories they all tell.

In short, just like the rest of us, the Humanities world is still growing up. The things of the past, while still useful and beloved, are now making way for the digital future–but that’s not necessarily a terrible thing. In fact, because of social media and location-based narratives, the literary and art worlds are now embedded in places nobody would have ever expected. With the past as a reference and the present as an indicator, I can’t wait to see what’s coming next.