Event 1

On November 16, 2013 I went to Honor Fraser to see the Andy Warhol: Robots and Space Ships exhibition. The gallery were all Warhol drawings, paintings, and silkscreens of toy robots and space ships. Upon entering the exhibition I was initially shocked at how small it was. There were twenty-six pieces but only seven different repeated images. I was really confused and extremely underwhelmed until I began to read the program provided about the exhibit. 

I was already vaguely aware that Warhol was interested in the idea of consumerism, but honestly I had never thought about it much further than that until going to Honor Fraser. Turns out, he had this fascination with repetitive images because of the underlying machine-like connotations it depicted (Honor Fraser). On top of it all, all the art in this show was meant to highlight Warhol's dream to become a machine! Honestly, I am still confused about the actual pictures being displayed, and perhaps that is because of my own shortcomings understanding art, but what is truly interesting about the experience I had was researching on my own about Warhol and his want to become a robot.

Warhol was quoted, "The things i want to show are mechanical. Machines have less problems. I'd like to be a machine, wouldn't you?" (Genn). This really got my wheels turning. Even though I didn't necessarily understand the images in the Robots and Spaceships collection, I definitely understand his perspective on the technology, sophistication, and the idea of being a robot. Consumerism is driven by machines. Mass production would not be possibly without cutting edge technology and machinery to help pump out vast quantities of products. Today society is obsessed with mass production and consumer culture (Gompertz) and it is all because of technology and the ability to utilize the use of machines. In week three of this class, Professor Vesna spoke about mass production and assembly lines and I certainly feel like Warhol’s work was highly influenced by this idea.

The last thing I took away from this whole experience was a better understanding of the society and place I live in today. Los Angeles is so heavily influenced by technology that when you take a step back and look at it all it is shocking. You can’t even walk five feet in public without seeing someone on their smartphone, plugged into headphones, or using some sort of machine. Consumerism is taking over the world, and I think Warhol has an interesting perspective on that whole idea. He never says it is a negative or positive thing. Instead, he just accepts it for what it is and longs to adapt to the situation and show people what is happening through his art. “Everybody acts alike, and we’re getting more and more that way. I think everybody should be a machine. I think everybody should like everybody” (Art News).

References

Art News. Andy Warhold Interview with Gene Swenson. 1963. Web. 12 Dec 2013.

Genn, Robert. Andy Warhol Quotes. The Painter’s Keys. 12 Dec 2013. Web. 12 Dec 2013.  

Gompertz, Will. Andy Warhol’s Great Secret. Salon. 21 Oct 2012. Web. 12 Dec 2013.

Honor Fraser. “Andy Warhol: Robots and Space Ships.” 2013. Los Angeles, California. 16 Nov 2013. Museum.

Vesna, Victoria. Unit 3 View: Lectures Part 2. 2013. Youtube. Online video clip. 12 Dec 2013.