“To participate in society, we cultivate a public persona, a manner of being in the world that works to sustain our engagements with others” (Finkelstein 2). Artists Andy Warhol and Ana Mendieta did this with their art. Both individuals were able to create an engagement with the public through their artwork and persona.
One thing, I’d say, they shared was the ability to incorporate their self-identities into their work. Andy Warhol was described as a ‘complex yet simple’ person. In the same manner his work seemed simple but was complex at the same time. His artwork, the soup can and even Marilyn Monroe, were so simple that they received a lot of critics but became his most famous works. On the other hand, Ana literally placed herself in the midst of her artwork. Whether it was laying naked in some earth form, or distorting her naked body, she had no problem surrounding her work around her very being. It can even be said that she allowed herself to become her artwork; she identified with it. Not only their identities, but the way they were brought up, or their biographies, could be said to have influenced their work.
Andy Warhol was born to a deprived immigrant family. Perhaps, the idea of cans of Campbell soups later in his life was a statement of him being able to relate to others on a wider scale. Here he was able to enjoy and eat something that many others were also eating. Also, his simplicity and familiarity in his art form, techniques, and even materials may have been because he wasn’t allotted certain luxuries in the beginning of his life. What did Andy Warhol know about being extra in life? He didn’t. His theme of simplicity in his artwork could’ve been due to his simple life.
Like him, Ana’s life greatly influenced her work. At age 12, Ana was sent to America. She is quoted in an interview saying, “I was torn from another land and I guess that’s one reason I’ve gone back to work with nature.” Ana planted herself in the earth to say I was here but mostly because of her nostalgia with her home. Many of her artwork surrounded the theme of violence on women and, although, it was never said if she experienced this herself, she incidentally died at the hands of it. It’s like Finkelstein said, “If I choose to disguise myself, if I cross- dress or wear distinctive clothes, am I as I appear on the surface or as I am behind the look” (Finkelstein 24). Ana went out of her way to portray herself as an abused woman in her artwork. The question remains if that was her disguise or if the person behind the blood and distortions was the fake one.
Both artists became famous as a result of their artwork. The fame, evidently, played a role in the lives. Albeit, they seem to have had different views on fame. I believe that due to Andy’s former life, he craved fame a bit more than Ana did. According to Billy Nane, artist and photographer, “He didn’t want to be a second rating or underling in any way, He wanted to be a superstar. Andy had no clue of the bourgeois lifestyle; it would only be natural to crave it. In the end, he achieved this. His art, although simple, changed the industry. He was the most successful and highly paid commercial illustrator in New York at the time. Many didn’t get it, but Andy redefined the view of something as simple as a can of soup. Berger said, “We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves” (Berger 9). He was able to take a can of soup and create a greater conversation around it; he allowed others to relate to it.
Now, Ana, wasn’t born into a rich family but I still don’t believe she craved notoriety as much as Andy. According to her niece, Raquel Cecillia, “Ana didn’t like to be labelled. She just wanted to be an artist.” I believe she was genuinely interested in the ability to portray things in a form; to be a storyteller. The fame did help in giving her a bigger platform to transmit her message. The fame could’ve also been due to her materials and strange techniques. She used blood, nature, film, and even her body. This might have come across as peculiar at the time. That, in turn, grasped people’s attention. According to Berger, “We have learned to see ourselves and read the scene through visual products on the screen” (Berger 11). A pic of two lines of blood may not have been that captivating. However, Ana taking her blood covered arm and stomach and dragging it down a piece of white paper called a lot to attention.
Works Cited
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corp. and Penguin books, 1972. Print.
Finkelstein, Joanne. The Art of Self invention: Image and identity in popular visual culture. New York: I.B. Tauris, 2007. Print.
Ana Mendieta: Traces/Stopy | Krátký dokument | Galerie Rudolfinum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72Nk0sPfRrU
Andy Warhol Documentary film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQXpqQO4vaE
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