What do you think of Andy Warhol's 'Mao Tse-Tung' satire?

Answer 1

I am assuming you are referring to the Mao Tse-Tung portrait series?

I think that the portrait that he based his series on is beautiful. It shows Mao as an individual. Ironically, I think the rich colors that surround Mao, mustard red and black, represented colors that were peculiar to old China-before the induction of Communism. "Commonism." (no, not communism) was the underlying theme of Andy's Mao series. Mao was a great, well-known political leader; a celebrity. This picture did not go and include any other leaders in China...or the chinese people of Mao's time, for it was a time that represented the collapse of the individual. I guess one also has to know what Andy's overall philosophy was, in relation to all of his work, to completely understand why this picture of Mao, where he is clean-cut, and humanized (look at his eyes; look at his mole), is a satire to begin with. At that time, Andy believed that we all embraced celebrity and worshiped consumerism. So much so, that we voluntariliy submitted ourselves, everyday, to the control of Corporate America and its media. Interestingly, one reason why communism was brought to China by Mao was because it was falling behind this consumeristic rush (modern society)...even though we might have thought of Mao as an enemy, because of the concept of Mao embracing 'communism,' Mao was indeed a celebrity, which sucummbed China to the consumeristic values that we see (although more matured) today.

Too out there for ya?

Answer 2

Nice - very nice synopsis, Lucy!

I'm tired of hearing people say he ripped his art off from someone else's work - he went well beyond making "pop art" a trend - he made statements that are still relevent today, and his colour theory and composition were right-on. And there's nothing wrong with a bit of satire when you're trying to make a statement.