Andy Warhol screen prints were his main printmaking pushing the boundaries of coloration and design of his subjects. On Warhol screen prints, he mentioned: “the reason I’m painting this way is that I want to be a machine, and I feel that whatever I do and do machine-like is what I want to do.” Indeed, machine-like precision and mimicry appear repeatedly in works of this medium. Andy Warhol screen prints process was a variation of stenciling. Warhol had a streamlined process in producing silk screen prints. First, he laid a photograph on to the mesh of a silk screen. Afterwards, he passed an ink-covered squeegee over the mesh. The ink would pass through the mesh and impress a print of the image onto the canvas underneath. The choice of ink depended on the intended composition of the final product. Warhol was able to apply multiple colors to create a layering effect, thus a different color composition could be made each time. He used a variety of canvases and papers. Andy Warhol’s screen prints include his iconic portfolio of Marilyn Monroe: Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn), 1967 and Elizabeth Taylor (Colored Liz), 1963. Producing art in a systematic manner similar to an assembly line, Warhol gave rise to series or portfolios of his beloved celebrities. Even today, these massively recognizable images serve as a beacon of popular culture.
Warhol’s range as an artist certainly shows in his sculptures and installations. Similar to his other works, his sculptures replicated commercial symbols and ideologies. Of this medium the best known were the series of “grocery carton” works which replicated Heinz Ketchup and Campbell’s tomato juice cans. His best known sculpture from this series is probably his Brillo Boxes,1964. As the name suggests, Andy Warhol screen prints press logos of the consumer product onto plywood boxes. The resulting appearance was identical to the logoed boxes often see in supermarkets. These sculptures were first exhibited at the Stable Gallery in 1964 and called to question what can be considered as fine art. When asked about these boxes, Warhol expressed he “wanted something ordinary”. Overall, his sculptural works centered on Warhol’s beloved premise of commercialization.
