Andy Warhol’s "Brillo Boxes" are precise copies of commercial packaging. While they fulfill the idea that art should imitate life, they also raise questions about how we identify and value something as art. See how Warhol and other artists transformed images of celebrity, kitsch, and advertising into potent statements in "Pop Art: A New Vernacular."
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Philosopher Arthur Danto pondering why Andy Warhol’s stacked Brillo Boxes are art”
“Warhol demonstrated that anything can be a work of art, given the right situation and theory. So Danto concludes that a work of art is an object that embodies a meaning:
Postcrossing US-4474461 by Gail Anderson
Via Flickr:
Brillo Boxes - Oil and Silkscreen painting on wood that pop artist Andy Warhol made in 1964. Sent to Postcrossers in Belarus.
In an obituary for the New York Times, Ken Johnson described Arthur Danto (1924–2013) as “one of the most widely read art critics of the Postmodern era.” Danto, who was both a critic and a professor of philosophy, is celebrated for his accessible and affable prose. Despite this, Danto’s best known essay, “The End of Art,” continues to be cited more than it is understood. What was Danto’s argument? Is art really over? And if so, what are the implications for art history and art-making?
An Illustrated Guide to Arthur Danto’s ‘The End of Art’
Andy Warhol's Brillo Boxes are a series of sculptures by the aforementioned artist created in 1964. Presented as high art at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pennsylvania, U.S.A., Warhol uses his sculpture to question the essence of what makes a piece of work (or anything for that matter), art as well as what makes a maker of such pieces, an artist. These boxes, ink silk screened onto wood, were originally designed for the consumer market by James Harvey, and yet he receives no acclaim. It is not his name that is known and it is not widely considered his work of art. Why? James Harvey was presumably commissioned by the owners of Brillo and designed a work that was acceptable enough for market to be produced on a massive scale. It is Warhol, however that saw this design in its intended habitat and appreciated it for more that it was, but rather for what it could be when viewed through a certain lens. Andy Warhol realized that art is not a thing to be created, but rather a label to be bestowed upon the beautiful, and beauty being so subjective in nature accepted the challenge of labeling art despite a lack of conventional beauty. The boxes themselves are pleasant in an all American consumerism sort of way, but it is the paradigm shift that they represent that turned Brillo Boxes into, arguably, Warhol's most popular sculpture.
So, is Warhol's work a parody of Harvey's? Can parody be high art? Is replication allowed? Allowed? Who's even making the rules? Are there rules? If Warhol can just copy something that was already designed and produced and call it art, cannot anyone be an artist?
Warhol's work does not parody Harvey's because it is not creating a commentary on the design, but rather is commenting on American consumer culture, and so in some ways is instead a parody of capitalism. High art is a myth created by the upper class and perpetuated by anyone whose livelihood depends on it. Replication is allowed. Everything is allowed. There are no rules. Anyone can be an artist.
The idea of certain people being artistic geniuses goes against the idea of art as a subjective form, and art is a subjective form. Some people are more technically skilled and better suited to certain mediums, but anyone that creates with the intent to make art (and a fair number that create without any such intent) is an artist. The world as a set of cultures should not strive to keep the elite on their thrones as the best of the art world, but instead work toward everyone creating. Read-write culture is more possible than ever thanks to the Internet and should be encouraged and utilized. The more that is made, the more likely something that any random individual will like or has been searching for or can be touched by exists. So let's create a culture that allows every possible iteration of an idea exist ten times over and then some.
"Aesthetics: Arthur Danto." Warhol: Collaboration: Arthur Danto, Brillo Boxes and the End of Art. The Andy Warhol Museum, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2015. <http://www.warhol.org/education/resourceslessons/Aesthetics--Arthur-Danto/>.
Andy Warhol, Brillo Boxes, 1964, Installation at The Andy Warhol Museum. Digital image. Warhol:. The Andy Warhol Museum, n.d. Web. <http://www.warhol.org/uploadedImages/Warhol_Site/Warhol/Content/Education/resourceslessons/New_Other_Professionals_and_Features/08232012_EDU_op_%20brillo%20boxes%20installation%20cropped_main.jpg>.
Walsh, P. "Index of Selected Artists in the Collection." Warhol_Brillo Boxes. Oberlin College, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2015. <http://www.oberlin.edu/amam/Warhol_BrilloBoxes.htm>.
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Today we mourn the loss of influential art critic and philosopher, Arthur C. Danto, whose legacy began in 1964 with a strange encounter of Brillo boxes in a New York gallery. Warhol’s sculptures begged the question, “What makes this art?” setting off a chain of thinking that evolved into a new way of interpreting contemporary art.