An Analysis Of Andy Warhol And Andy Warhol

Decent Essays
Sociologist Alvin Toffler was concerned with the speed at which we are adapting and ‘developing’ through new technologies. It appears that our development is relative. For example there was a concern with the invention of the steam locomotive that the never before reached speed of a maximum 15mph would be fast enough to crush the passengers because of the pressure. Obviously since then the technology and our understanding of it has greatly developed and we would now step on a train to travel at five times that speed without questioning it. And so we look back on this now with retrospective amusement. But if we were to set out on foot to make this same journey, the potential for us to have experiences that may contribute to our personalities is practically unlimited. And of course the best teacher is experience. …show more content…
The speed of our lives increases in proportion. We supplement the experience we could have had (or previously would have had) with efficiency. And this benefits us in other ways. Benjamin Franklin also contributes greatly in his writings to the conversation of consumption in relation to art in his essay ‘Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’. One artist who cannot be avoided in the evaluation of mass consumption in art is Andy Warhol. Warhol blurred the boundaries between art and consumer culture and in doing so started the ball rolling on a hugely significant artistic and social discourse. By propelling the everyday, consumer product and objects of popular culture into the world of art through repetition, he makes a statement about our collective, habitual consumption. He recognised that largely our perceptions and cultural behaviour depend upon our consumption of mass media. His work seemed to force feed us imagery; turning our celebrities into mundane symbols and our mundane products into

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