Andy Warhol: Redesign

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ANDY WARHOL, 1928–1987, COMMERCE INTO ART
THE NEW KIND OF STAR
Andy Warhol was the embodiment of the new kind of star.
Creator, producer and actor in one, he enriched the world
by providing us with an idol from the world of art. A good
businessman, he marketed his quality of elusiveness as
well as marketing himself in his role as head of his studio
of 18 employees (“the boys and girls”). It has been said of
Andy Warhol that “art gained beauty primarily through
money.” A friend and sponsor of his early days, Henry
Geldzahler, praises the artist’s fascinating combination
of business and art. Sociologist and film maker Edgar
Morin observed that we project any number of needs and
desires that cannot be fulfilled in real life into the exalted,
mythical being (of the star); he thus defines the most
important socio-psychological requirement in the creation
of the 20th century cult of the film star, pop star, etc.
The idol appears unreal, an apparition made from light
and shade. The cult of the ‘star’ is not really meant for a
human being of flesh and blood—his physical presence
merely affords proof that this apparition does indeed
exist. No one saw through the mechanism of the ‘star’
cult better than Andy Warhol himself, as is illustrated by
his public appearances. With the trick of being physically
present and at the same time in another world, he seemed
to be a physical apparition. For Henry Geldzahler the
main reason for Andy Warhol’s fabulous success lies in
his ability. According to Geldzahler, thanks to Warhol’s
appearance as a “dumb blond,” it was not long before
the public began to identify him with the Pop movement.
And, as he put it, there have indeed been very few artists—
Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Jackson Pollock—in this