We’ve always known Andy Warhol had a rather rampant commercialism about him. I mean, what’s the deal with those cans!? And multi-hued Marilyn? The fact is, Warhol was all about drawing our attention to the commercialism around us, but also by removing things…like Campbell soup cans…from their usual context, he asked us to view them in a different light, and by doing so, they became art. He saw that an artist could transform the ugliness of commercialism into the beauty of art. He was oh so high concept.
But can you really get more LOW concept than this ad that Warhol did for Braniff Airways? Here is sitting next to Sonny Liston trying to explain the can thing and then an announcer’s voice comes over the video….it’s not even that funny, let alone ironic, let alone artistic. I saw it and I wondered what got into Warhol. Did he need the money? Too bad if he did and too bad he’s gone, because you might remember that one of his paintings…the multi-colored Mao… just sold for US$16.4 million. I’ll be he wouldn’t be doing Braniff commercials today.