Posted by Edward Kurstak on
Shepard Fairey’s artwork encompasses graphic design, illustration, pop art and street art, with a heavy emphasis on social activism and societal critique. Fairey is perhaps best known for his “Hope” campaign, a series of posters that portray then-presidential candidate Barack Obama in a portrait setting in an iconic vector-graphic style featuring red, beige and multiple shades of blue, along with the word “HOPE,” “PROGRESS,” “CHANGE.” These posters, inspired by Social...
Posted by Edward Kurstak on
Born and raised in Pennsylvania by parents Allen and Joan Haring, Keith Haring became fascinated by the whimsical illustrative styles of Walt Disney, Charles Schultz and Dr. Seuss at an early age. His father, whose hobby was cartooning, helped nurture his love for the artform throughout his childhood. In 1976, he enrolled in the Ivy School of Professional Art in Pittsburg, but dropped out after two semesters. Later, in 1978,...
Posted by Edward Kurstak on
At the zenith of his international fame in the 1960s and 70s, Warhol became renowned for producing copies upon copies of American pop icons: celebrities from Elizabeth Taylor to Marlon Brando, oversized Brillo pad boxes, paintings of Campbell's soup cans and more. In doing so, his work synthesized highbrow and lowbrow tastes and suggested that the commercial, mass-marketed world of midcentury US capitalism was indeed worthy of observation and reflection in fine art, as well as critical...
Posted by Edward Kurstak on
Posted by Edward Kurstak on
Andy Warhol was a leading figure in the postmodernist visual art movement called pop art (also inclusive of Roy Lichtenstein, Keith Haring, Jasper Johns and others) who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most successful and famous artists of his generation. Born to working-class immigrant parents in Pittsburgh, PA, he suffered from Sydenham’s chorea as a child and was bedridden for an extended time. It was during...