Andy Warhol and the Can that Sold the World

by Gary Indiana

In the summer of 1962, Andy Warhol unveiled 32 Soup Cans in his first solo exhibition at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles—and sent the art world reeling. The responses ran from incredulity to outrage; the poet Taylor Mead described the exhibition as “a brilliant slap in the face to America.” The exhibition put Warhol on the map—and transformed American culture forever. Almost single-handedly, Warhol collapsed the centuries-old distinction between “high” and “low” culture, and created a new and radically modern aesthetic.In Andy Warhol and the Can that Sold the World, the dazzlingly versatile critic Gary Indiana tells the story of the genesis and impact of this iconic work of art. With energy, wit, and tremendous perspicacity, Indiana recovers the exhilaration and controversy of the Pop Art Revolution and the brilliant, tormented, and profoundly narcissistic figure at its vanguard.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Gary Hoisington, known as Gary Indiana, was an American writer, actor, artist, and cultural critic. He served as the art critic for the Village Voice weekly newspaper from 1985 to 1988. Indiana is best known for his classic American true-crime trilogy, Resentment, Three Month Fever: The Andrew Cunanan Story, and Depraved Indifference, chronicling the less permanent state of "depraved indifference" that characterized American life at the millennium's end. In the introduction to the recently re-published edition of Three Month Fever, critic Christopher Glazek has coined the phrase 'deflationary realism' to describe Indiana's writing, in contrast to the magical realism or hysterical realism of other contemporary writing.

Reviews

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

To take Gary Indiana's book fully into context, one must enter with a solid foundation of art history. Otherwise, one will find Indiana's asides and contextual notes uninformative. Indiana writes as an insider, one involved in the art scene, and it is hard to argue that he understands how much of an external impact Warhol did not have in the long run.

Oddly enough, this is very much illustrative of Warhol's thesis and work. Indiana insightfully illustrates Warhol's deconstruction of the concept of fine art and his broadening to include low art in the oeuvre. But Indiana fails to realize that this ultimately destroyed the concept of high art. Oh, there remains pre-Warhol high art that is clearly appropriate to that terminology, but since then there is merely art and to define something as "high" or "low" fails because art is now so broad as to cover practically any concept. And with that, art became democratized, if only limited by the willingness of people to pay for it.

But that limitation is precisely what has limited Warhol's impact. Indiana notes the vast and increasing income gap that began in Warhol's era, but fails to understand that this further narrowed the cultural art world. There are patrons to be certain, but there will never be a celebrity artist like Andy Warhol again, in part because Warhol helped to destroy the concept.

[Dirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gary Indiana gives a very selective biography of Warhol, focusing on his 1962 piece "Campbell's Soup Cans". Indiana is frequently loquacious, seemingly for the sake of style, but seems to have a thorough knowledge of his subject. His technique is to study very specific vignettes from Warhol's life in context, for example his relation to the abstract expressionists, his Campbell's soup cans, and his art in light of the work of Marcel Duchamp. This is a short book and many other parts of his life and his work are not included. If you are looking for insight into Warhol's life or his career in their entirely, this book will not satisfy. It's focus is the artwork that gives the book it's title. Redemption is provided in the final 25 pages of the book, when Indiana considers the meaning of pop art, found art, and the impact of Warhol's work. In terms of information, this book is a wash, but it does provide some interesting criticisms of the intersection of modern and post-modern art in New York. I would probably not recommend this book to a friend.

[Jeaninne Escallier · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the same way that Andy Warhol painted the Campbell Soup can to reflect modern America's excess of commodity, consumerism and celebrity worship, Gary Indiana wrote this dry, humorless, didactic essay to reflect his own prowess at literacy. I am the first person to appreciate the breadth and depth of the English language; however, when used to elitist excess, big words only become barriers to the truth. Gary often got lost in his own verbiage, but I did appreciate how his impenetrable writing voice matched the distant personality that was Andy Warhol. Once I culled through the abyss of word sludge, I appreciated learning Andy Warhol's effect on American modern art. Even though he can be said to have borrowed ideas from Marcel Duchamp of the 30's and Jasper Johns of the 50's, his unique spin on Capitalism via his paintings and silk screens of household items and celebrities literally changed the way we view our own society. Like him or hate him, Andy Warhol left an indelible mark on our collective consciousness.

[Andrew]

I was attracted to this not because I care about Andy Warhol -- I definitely don't, even though I respect his place in art history. I was attracted because I liked Gary Indiana's insights. It was a decent enough work of art criticism and art history, and Indiana does a good job of correlating Warhol-the-human with Warhol-the-image, including a fair amount of vitriol. Indiana's Three Month Fever was vastly better in terms of narrative, subject matter, and pure writing chops, but this was decent enough.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look into the mind of Warhol and the effect that Campbell Soup Can pictures had on the art world. I remember the early days of Pop Art and how the artists were trashed by the media as they sought a way forward out of Abstract Expressionism.
Gary Indiana talks about Warhol's incessant narcissism in the later days, but much overlooked is the incredible work ethic that Warhol had from the time he first went to New York City in the early 50's and kept it up until the mid-70's when he became more of a celebrity than an artist. He was an inveterate collector, even of his own work, which is why they are still cataloguing the works he left behind.
It is a good read, but full of good commentary on Pop Art and New York art scene in the 50's and 60's, which leads me to say that the book should be savoured and read over several days to digest the comments.

[Mariana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my taste at all. Nothing about Warhol was in this book. The tone was too mocking or just plain speculative for something that's supposed to be non-fiction. There are whole chapters that I wished I'd skipped about historical events at the time, and their relevance to Warhol or pop-art in general was not clearly made. There were shining jewels of writing here and there, but for the most part I was regretting the fact that I ever picked it up, it was so boring.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is an interpretive view of the artist Andy Warhol and his impact on NYC, the art world, gay life and the NYC party scene of that era. The author managed to squeeze quite a lot into a 150-apage book, Gary Indiana is a prominent essayist for The Village Voice and other NYC art publications, and his writing style does a lot to inject some life and zing, although the content wanders sometimes. Warhol started as a commercial artist, and that period is covered too. (4.0-4.3/5.0 stars).

[Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was nothing more than a condensed biography. Although Indiana does make the worthwhile case for Larry Rivers as a significant figure in the shift from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art, he hardly mentions the other important names between Action Painting and Andy (this excepting the necessary mention of Johns and Rauschenberg). We need a book on Lichtenstein before we need another redundant book on Warhol. I haven't yet finished Pop: The Genius of Andy Warhol, but from the first 40 pages alone it seems to be a superior work. This one was brief and breezy, just ok.

[Tommy Bat-Blog Brookshire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book last night & I gotta say that it was sort of a surprise. I thought it was going to be an Art History book where it focused almost exclusively on the effects of Warhol's Campbell Soup Can Paintings but it was sort of a mini-biography on the Artist. Now, I have read almost every single book on Warhol ( I'm a serious fan of his work ) & this book is kind of a condensed-biography. It's very well written & i found the Author's style to be both informative & entertaining. if you just wanna read ONE book about Andy then I would suggest this one.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contrary to what other readers have written, you don't need a solid background in art history to appreciate this book. You don't even need to be a fan of Warhol, as I am. Indiana takes a very objective view of a particular moment in American history where the art world and pop culture collided and the two were never the same again. A fascinating read.

[LSC-University Park SLRC]

Read it through Lone Star College's EBSCO Ebook Collection.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good companion to Warhol's "Popism".