Andy Warhol

Pillow-shaped Balloon (from the 1997 UAM Great American Pop Art Store exhibition, Silver Clouds installation), 1966

Metalicized plastic film

Andy Warhol, born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania in 1928, graduated with a degree in Pictorial Design from Carnegie Mellon University in 1945. He was one of the founders of the Pop Art movement in the United States in the 1950s. He is best known for his simple, larger-than-life, high-contrast color paintings of packaged consumer goods and for his stylized portraits of 20th century media icons. The impact of the subject matter and style of the Warhol paintings and silk-screens helped to redefine U.S. cultural identity, resulting in a celebrity status for the artist. In addition to painting, Warhol was an avant-garde filmmaker, a social figure, and an avid collector. In fact, Warhol had so many possessions it took Sotheby’s nine days to auction his estate for over $20 million after his death in 1987.