Ana and Andy

Ana Mendieta and Andy Warhol both have prevalent themes in how their works, usually making their works as a way to reflect their views of the world and the way they grew up. Ana Medieta uses her childhood growing up in Cuba around nature with the beach near her family’s home and her experiences of being sent away to America and away from her home country and family members as a big inspiration for her works and views nature as a part of herself. This influences her to use a lot of natural mediums like sand, dirt, water, fire and blood for her works even though they won’t last long in an area she captures her works to make sure they last. Andy Warhol on the other hand draws inspiration from his life growing up in a poor neighborhood to turn very common objects like the brillo box or the Campbell’s soup can into a work of art and became known for his commercial and pop art. In a way both of these artist ended up being synonymous with their art. Ana Mendieta became known for her use of nature within her works and using herself as medium to create it and kinda became this figure that is very spiritual and connected to nature in many ways. Andy Warhol became this big figure known for pop art and being very much into the celebrity world for his works. Fame played a role in both of their lives, Ana using her fame from her works to bring attention to issues regarding women such as when she used blood and her body to paint a wall when a girl was raped on her campus and doing other works with a focus on domestic abuse to bring attention to the problems many abused women face and to bring awareness to it. Berger quotes that “Photographs alter and enlarge our notions of what’s worth looking at and what we have a right to observe.” And I think it can relate to the way Ana uses her mediums, she usually finds some way of photographing or filming them to give them a form of lasting longer and it is through these images that she can get her point across on the issues she likes to speak out about. Berger also states that “The picture may distort; but there is always a presumption that something exists, of did exist” just like Ana’s photos and videos is used to prove that her works at some point did exist and uses them to show herself and her views. Andy Warhol on the other hand uses his works as a way to invent a public figure of himself through his works while also drawing experiences from the past to build up fame. Berger states that “We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves” and in a way Andy establishes this through his works, many people look at his works and think about how it can relate to them especially those in the celebrity spotlight or even those not through his other works, Ana also does this too with her works focusing on abuse and some people can relate to those experiences of beings abused. Finkelstein states that ”We habitually define and invent ourselves in the exigencies of the moment” and Ana foes it as a way to show her feelings of being taken away from her home and uses it as a way to invent herself and her art and eventually becomes known for doing her works through this way of inventing herself in the moment along with her focus on abuse which she felt the need to speak out on and establish a name for dealing with those themes and subjects. Andy invents himself in the moment to establish himself and make a name for himself by creating these very bright and even using a focus on mundane products to bring attention to himself and what he does. In the end both of these artist though focusing on very different subjects, themes and even medias in their works of arts share some traits in how they establish an identity for themselves through their work and using their works as something that can be easily associated to them upon seeing and even in some cases using their works to make a message that they want to have spread out and be known to others by, though at the same time they share differences in how they view the world and how they decide to use their works or present their art with Andy using means of galleries and such to present a lot of his works while Ana using areas and recordings until later in her life where she uses material that last longer the two of these artists uses their different types of mediums to become known through them. 

https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/1517

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/61240

https://awarewomenartists.com/en/artiste/ana-mendieta/

https://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/collection/artwork/untitled-blood-sign-2body-tracks