Andy Warhol (Pittsburgh, PA, 1928 – New York, NY, 1987).
Inspired by celebrity, consumer culture, and mechanical reproduction, he was at the forefront of the Pop Art movement of the 20th century. He produced silkscreens of widely known cultural and consumer icons, including portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Campbell’s soup cans, and Brillo pad boxes. Andy Warhol embraced the machine-like quality of silk-screen printmaking, reflecting the mass-produced goods depicted in his work. Warhol opened his own studio in 1964, The Factory, which became one of New York Cities’ leading cultural hubs. The artist served as a mentor and friend to Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat and continues to inspire contemporary artists around the world: his notable successors include Richard Prince, Takashi Murakami, and Jeff Koons. Following his death, his estates became The Andy Warhol Foundation, open in his native city of Pittsburg. His work can be found at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Tate Gallery in London, among others. His works have sold for upwards of $100 million at auction.
These works have been produced through the silkscreen medium, which usually Warhol was applying to his mass-produced editions. While the majority of his works have been printed from ready-made photographs, these two are based on unique drawings Warhol did of his beloved subjects: the Draq Queen and the Zodiac Signs. Then both of these editions are uniquely produced in Italy.
