Ana and Andy

Ana Mendieta and Andy Warhol were highly praised artist during their time as well as today. They two very different artists and two very different people. However, they were artists who changed the world of art. Ana [Mendieta] was an artist who utilized film and photography to capture her work. Andy [Warhol] also utilized film, however he also utilized painting to showcase his works. Though their humble beginnings were different from each other, they shared a commonality that influenced their art. After immigrating from Cuba at the age of 12, Ana Mendieta found her passion and love of art while studying in the University of Iowa. (Guggenheim.org) Andy Warhol was born in America, but his passion and love for art was introduced to him at an early age in his life as he was homeschooled and took up free art classes at the Carnegie Institute. (Warhol.org)  

Mendieta Untitled (Silueta) 1978.

During her time [Mendieta], she used film and photography to broadcast her works. She was performance artist, so using a new form of media that could capture her works from start to end. The themes in Ana Mendieta’s works were influential from life and self-being. Works such as Untitled (Silueta Series Mexico) showcases the humans being one with nature. As her biography states, “Ana Mendieta was born in Havana on November 18, 1948. At the age of 12, after her father joined anti-Castro counterrevolutionary forces, Mendieta was sent to the United States with her sister under Operation Pedro Pan. They spent their first weeks in refugee camps before being sent to an orphanage in Dubuque, Iowa.” (Artnet.com) Being sent away from her family and being relocated to a country where you cannot speak the language at such a young age is  very traumatic. In class we discussed how Ana Mendieta felt as if she was taken away from the land and the part of the world she loved. Another theme in Ana Mendieta’s works politics and the oppression of females. One of her most notable works were the Untitled (Rape Scene). According to TATE, “It was created in response to a brutal and highly publicized rape and murder of a nursing student, Sara Ann Otten, by another student in March 1973. The following month Mendieta invited her fellow students to her apartment where, through a door left purposefully ajar, they found her in the position recorded in this photograph, which recreated the scene as reported in the press.” (TATE Ana) Her works like such drew her audience closer and closer to her as she gained a following. Just like in Finkelstein’s Art of Self Invention, “America seemed drawn to his descriptions of the stylishness and theatricality of interaction” (Finkelstein) People want to be drawn in to be immersed in what they are seeing.

Mendieta Untitled (Rape Scene) 1973

Warhol Soup Cans 1962

Andy Warhol rose to fame due to his Pop Art  Movement. He pursued a career as a commercial artist after graduating college. The piece that kickstarted his fame was the Campbell Soup Can. That piece itself introduced the world to a Blotted-Line technique that Warhol famously uses. A blotted line technique is a combination of basic drawing and printmaking. Therefore, “This was the beginning of his lifelong interest to quickly create multiples. Warhol famously quipped, “I want to be a machine,” alluding to his interest in mass production. (warhol.org) Andy Warhol’s self portrait works were also constructed in his interest of mass production, however there is a deeper meaning behind his self portraits. Warhol knew life of a celebrity and his portraits emphasized on that. (TATE Andy) His Self-Portrait with Fright Wig can be best explained from Finkelstein’s Art of Self Invention, “A  recent example of physiognomy made popular again has been produced by a California-based psychologist, Paul Ekman. He has developed an analytic framework for reading the human face that he calls FACS (the Facial Action Coding System), as mentioned in Chapter 2. Ekman believes in the reliability of non-verbal communication. FACS is a catalogue of more than three thousand different faces.” (Finkelstein) Andy Warhol relies on the same facial expression, while changing the position of the camera. He still utilized the technique of repetition to show multiple of the same things. 

Warhol Fright Wig 1986

In summary, Ana Mendieta and Andy Warhol were highly ahead of their time. However, both of their time on Earth were cut much shorter. At the age of 36 Ana Mendieta was pushed out of the her New York City apartment window by her husband, fellow artist, Carl Andre. Her work is still praised till this day as her gained her the recognition of the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Cintas Foundation. Andy Warhol passed away at the age of 58 due to surgical complications. His work is also still being praised till this day as being one of Pop Culture movement icons. They are both synonymous to their iconic works and will be immortalized from it.

WORK CITED: 

“Ana Mendieta Art Net.” Artnet, www.artnet.com/artists/ana-mendieta/.

“Ana Mendieta.” Guggenheim, www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/ana-mendieta.

“Andy Warhol.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 12 Aug. 2019, www.biography.com/artist/andy-warhol.

“Andy Warhol's Life.” The Andy Warhol Museum, www.warhol.org/andy-warhols-life/.

“Life Imitates Art.” The Art of Self Invention: Image and Identity in Popular Visual Culture, by Joanne Finkelstein, Tauris, 2007, pp. 26.

“Looking Good.” The Art of Self Invention: Image and Identity in Popular Visual Culture, by Joanne Finkelstein, Tauris, 2007, pp. 123.

Tate. “'Untitled (Rape Scene)', Ana Mendieta, 1973.” Tate, 1 Jan. 1973, www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/mendieta-untitled-rape-scene-t13355.

Tate. “What Was Andy Warhol Thinking? – Look Closer.” Tate, www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/andy-warhol-2121/what-was-andy-warhol-thinking.