Andy Warhol Moonwalk Essay

Andy Warhol's Moonwalk exemplifies how pop art took inspiration from cultural trends and in this case from the events of the cold war and the space race. The image envisions the exiting moment when man first stepped on the moon, using a technique known as screen printing to capture the dynamic composition. Moonwalk was painted by Andy Warhol in the year 1987 only months before his death. It is currently located in the Huntsville Museum of Art, near the NASA Marshall Space flight center. The centre theme of the painting depicts Buzz Aldrin standing next to the American flag as capered by Neil Armstrong. Moonwalk ties into the era of pop-art that started in the United States in the late 1950's. Screen printing, which really is a form of stenciling,
In a screen print ink is pushed through a stencil onto a screen to produce an image on it, the first screen were made of silk and hence screen printing is also known as Silk screen painting. In the United States the first photographic prints were produced by Roy beck and Charges peter. In modern times screen printing is being widely used in small and medium business to produce print work. This is due to advantages of duplicity that screen print provides. It allows and individual make multiple copies of the same work with and without variation depending on the artist needs. This makes it commercially viable. For most of the twentieth century, screen-printing techniques were considered, “trade secrets” and were kept confidential. It wasn’t until the 1960s, with the help of Andy Warhol, that it became a more widely recognized art form. When Warhol began to experiment with screen printing in the 1960’s, the practice was not a widely used medium. It was a lengthy process that required an exorbitant amount of patience and a keen eye for detail. It was also not unanimously understood as an
It started in Britain in the mid 1950's , by the late 1950's it was a part of the American art culture. Popularity of expressionist art and pop art reintroduction of identifiable images was a major push in the idea of modernism and modern art. Identifiable images refers to cultural icons such as Marilyn Monroe and were the subject matter of many of the famous pop art paintings and major events in history such as the moon landing. Some of the key ideas of the pop art movement were to integrate pop culture with art with the use of abstract expressionism. Pop art went beyond art, it was a medium used for a variety of proposed ranging from advertisement to propaganda of national agenda's. Pop art was pioneered by artist such as Andy Warhol who painted famous works such the Moonwalk and Marilyn Monroe , the latter was based on an image of Marilyn Monroe taker by Gene Korman for promotion of her 1953 film Niagara. Other famous artists include Roy Lichtenstein and James Rosenquiest. Pop art was such a popular art movement that pop art artist were becoming a part of pop culture. Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes was a show hosted by Andy Warhol on MTV. An artist being an host on MTV was unheard of until the rise of pop art sensation. Andy Warhol’s Moonwalk was to be part of a series entitled "The History of TV " .In this series imaged iconic televised moments such then I love Lucy and the beetles