madness in multiples

Todays lesson depicted the idea of multiples, and the over all effect this can have on ones work as a whole. If I were to think about an artist whom uses this idea in their work, an obvious person who absolutely SCREAMS this idea would of coarse be Andy Warhol.

His prints and paintings are repeatedly mass produced in multiples. Cans over cans over cans over bottles over bottles over bottles. But in my mind I begin to think about the meaning if this. why would he want you to see an image like this so many times? what effect would it have on the work itself? would the overall meaning change if there was purelly one bottle in the middle of an empty white room?

Well, in our lecture we learned about Walter Benjamin's idea of Aura's, the exillerating feeling that you expirience when in the presence of an original piece of artwork such as the mona lisa or similar masterpiece. They are one off's and make you think about the history and making of the painting. The effort put into a work that has taken time to produce makes you feel just a tiny bit closer to the artist themselfes.

When we think about Andy's works, None of his works are originals. Like a photograph, or cheap copy of a fine art print, he has used the silkscreen process to produce much more than one copy, eliminating the exillerating effect of a work. He has used the complete opposite to Walter Benjamin's idea, to achieve something of a rather mind numbing effect. In some of his pieces he has used rather shocking imagery of car crashes, electric chairs and suicides. Topics banned from the mass media for its graphic imagery. What he has done is softened the blow of these images. they are no longer as shocking or provocative. They neither resonate the feeling if an auora. They are not original works, and we do not stop to concentrate on purely one to think about time and effort, or to feel closer to the artist.

When you view an exebition of Andy Warhols works, you may be overcome by the shear mass of images thrown at you. If I think about this in terms of the world, he has definatly mimmicked the ideas of media. magazine articles and the news flood the streets, numbing story's of their effect, to a point where you probably wouldn't think twice about it. The elecric chair is an exaple of this. what was once a shocking image of torture and cruel American execution is now merely an image. Only a work printed onto canvas, multiple times under the name of one American Arist, Andy Warhol.