ACADEMIC TALK
Watch the lecture by Lily Middleton – Mansell below and don’t forget to take a look at the extra resources and have a go at the activity at the end.
Warhol, Basquiat and the Art of Advertising
Lily Middleton-Mansell
You might think that art should have nothing to do with advertising, but intersections between artistic and commercial products seem to be inevitable in an era of mass media and mass consumption. Late-twentieth century artists such as Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat embrace the relationship between art and advertising and use their artwork to both critique advertising and push it beyond its commercial function.
Further Reading & Resources
Click here to watch a clip of Frank O’Hara reading ‘Having a Coke with You’.
If you’re interested in learning more about Andy Warhol, click here.
Jean-Michel Basquiat starred in Downtown 81, a film about New York life in the 1980s. You can watch the trailer here.
You can read more about Basquiat here. A recent Tiffany advertisement actually featured a Basquiat painting, alongside music royalty Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Read about it here.
Think of an advertisement that you have seen recently. Is there anything about it that explicitly references or makes you think of a particular artwork?
Write at least three paragraphs of analysis comparing the artwork and the advertisement – think about what makes the two pieces similar and what makes them different, the purposes they might serve, what influences they might have, the imagery they use, etc.
If you are struggling to think of an artwork, go take a look around your local art museum or explore the online Tate, National Gallery or Victoria and Albert museum collections.
