Warhol. Warhol. Warhol. Warhol.

by Ynaffit Senrab

"Andy Warhol, you know? The guy who did those Marilyn Monroe paintings? The Campbell's Soup Can? Oh come on! How can you not know him?" I shriek at my mother in an attempt to coerce her into accompanying me to the Warhol: Fabricated exhibition at UAB. It never occurred to me that some people could go through life having never heard of artists such as Andy Warhol. For my mother, who immigrated to America from Jamaica, her lack of knowledge about American culture is understandable. My friends, however, whose blank stares are the response to a simple question about Warhol's identity, pose a bit more of an issue. This issue is why I believe the Warhol: Fabricated exhibition at UAB will be a success, not based on the amount of art lovers that attend the show, but because it gives those who usually have no interest in art a chance to experience works from the late great Andy Warhol. Walking through the exhibition might be a bit to take in all at once. There’s so much to look at. So many colors. So many faces. Over. And over. And over. Of course, this is Warhol’s intention. If his artwork could be mass-produced in the same manner that soup cans in a factory are, does it still qualify as art? After taking one look at his “Cow” wallpaper, I concluded that, yes, yes, it does. Not only is Warhol’s repetition seen in his wallpaper pieces but also through the 100+ polaroids. The polaroids appear to be random snapshots of Warhol’s acquaintances, but when placed in a grid on one of the gallery walls, I begin to think of the shots as Warhol’s way of recording his public sphere in the same way one would record their private life. This, however, is false. Warhol didn’t have a private self. The polaroids, which seemed out of place at first actually fit right into the exhibition when I took into account how Warhol didn’t have a private self. After all, Warhol, down to his daily diary, is public. Warhol’s art was made for the public to view and criticize the way that they view everyday life. It doesn’t make sense for those works to be reserved exclusively for those who know and understand Warhol and his philosophy. It is very fitting that Warhol: Fabricated is being displayed on a campus like UAB because who could benefit more from viewing life differently than the ones who would soon be starting theirs?