Everything's plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic."
- Andy Warhol
This is a painting, worth around $10,000. One might not see this artwork worth the money it bagged. It only consists of prints of ordinary soup cans, which incidentally contained the artist's favourite soup. There is seemingly no aesthetic way in which these cans are arranged; they are just placed in a line, with no real focal point.
For years and centuries, art has been pursued so as to beautify. Paintings were made so as to hang them on the walls, and in turn make them look aesthetically appealing. Music was also composed for the same reasons – to beautify sound! Dancing is also a way to beautify one’s movements. Along with the function to beautify, art has one more function – to express.
Breaking barriers is important in art; Andy Warhol broke major barriers in art, glorified everyday objects by painting them and hence enhanced their importance. Before creating this artwork, it is said that his friends had told him to create paintings of things he loved. Going literally by the words, Andy Warhol painted the Campbell’s Soup cans – these made up his lunch for a really long time in his life. This is one example how the artist’s psyche and emotions determine the type of art he creates. Each artist would deal with an issue with a different approach, and a totally different outlook.
For a long time, art was bound by the traditional rules, which everybody had to abide by. There were restrictions and taboo subjects. Nobody earlier even considered used soup cans as worthy to be painted. Andy Warhol created this new perspective in art, and it was a powerful message. Symbolically, it represented the rise of the civilian. These objects were used by one and all, and everybody using them was united through this artwork. Warhol’s paintings urged people to look for all those little important things that go by unnoticed in their lives, and acknowledge their presence in some way or the other. One can see through this, that art teaches many worthy lessons, and addresses to many social issues, hence gaining public attention and creating awareness.
Perspective building is made easier through art. One may just reject Warhol’s painting and theme by saying that there lies no meaning in empty, used soup cans, and they are of no artistic value. Another might say that this is the message that needs to be spread far and wide, that everybody needs to retain their worth for the greater good. A third person might say that soup cans of different flavours arranged together in a painting may just look more like an advertisement, and less like an artwork. That is the greatest thing with art – it is open to interpretation. There are a number of perspectives built by different people about a single work of art. In this lies the true essence of art – expression. The viewer sees himself in the painting, for instance, and hence construes it in that way. This might be very different from the idea that the artist had in his mind while creating the painting. There does not exist a single truth, but many relative truths, which differ from person to person.
Campbell’s soup cans can in fact, affect people stronger than a painting of a beautiful maiden from the Victorian Age and her perfect features because of the lasting impression it creates. Simple and fuss-free, these cans stand for the world of today.
