The iconic Campbell's Soup image is probably the first image you think of when you think of American artist Andy Warhol (okay, maybe The Velvet Underground or Edie Sedgwick, but ya' know what I'm saying), but Warhol was an artist of many facets. He initially began his career as a commercial illustrator and later worked in film, music, printmaking and photography, among other things.
Since this is a blog about photography, I'm going to focus on that aspect of Warhol's work (and also one of the parts of Andy that is perhaps the least celebrated, imo). I'm especially intrigued by his work using the Polaroid Instant Camera. From a photographer's point-of-view, this camera is a disaster. You have absolutely no control over anything. All you can do is press a single button. Cloudy day? Press the button. Sunny day? Press the button. Is the hot-shoe/flash too bright/dim? Press the button. Forget about adjusting any shutter or aperture settings because every shot is a gamble.
I can imagine that Andy's use of such a "lowbrow" camera has a lot of humor involved. His eccentric personality and, perhaps being referred to as a "commercial artist," the commercial aspect of the camera may have been a nod to the execution of his work. This iconic tool, which needs little work and no dark room, was creating profound artwork simply because he pressed the button. Pretty smart, huh?
He made an extensive series photographing just about everything and everyone, including some of the most notable celebrities and athletes of the 1970s and 1980s and even himself, though you may not recognize him. "Andy Warhol. Polaroid 1958-1987" (Woodward) chronicles the hundreds of images that Warhol took over a span of almost three decades.
[*All images borrowed from the internet.]