Andy Warhol is an artist who uses the idea of production through his artwork. His images of icons and everyday objects or events are used in a repetitive pattern to call attention to the concept of product and the glamorization of such products. People or celebrities also become products or commodified through the process of the media culture. Andy Warhol himself seems to become a machine-like producer and also product himself. HIs work seems to question ideas of "low" art and "high" art and the question of defining art. Walter Benjamin's Author as Producer remind of Warhol's work.
Although Andy Warhol is known as POP art, his concepts, techniques and image delivery give different meanings and thoughts to social issues, which can be identifiable to viewers today. Interestingly, Andy Warhol's images have been referenced or inspired by contemporary activist artists.
Production or the use of the production concept is useful in political art because it can reach the masses. Social and politcal ideas can be consumed by viewers. I have also seen work by artists who use the Newspaper as a space in which they can express or make a political or social statement. The newspaper is a an object and space in which reaches the masses and can create an informal dialogue between the reader and the artist about a particular issue.
Benjamin states that "social production can bring about forms of social change". I suppose activist art uses creative ways and techniques that are not formalized through corporate identities or advertising but, essentially the same idea to create a form of spectacle to attract attention. Through a performative demonstration in a venue or public space where an author (artist) can produce a process, the public or partcipants become involved with the author (artist) in a physical, verbal, intellectual and social dialogue.
Click on Image to Enlarge.
Andy Warhol. 13 Most Wanted Men. 1964.
(Image taken from FADIS)
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