Modern and Contemporary Art Brillo Boxes 1964 Andy Warhol, American, 1928 - 1987 Screenprint and ink on wood * Gallery 166, Modern and Contemporary Art, first floor 1994-79-1--3 |
Acquired with funds contributed by the Committee on Twentieth-Century Art and as a partial gift of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., 1994LabelAndy Warhol’s Brillo Boxes are approachable and elusive in equal degree. Very likely inspired by Jasper Johns’s American flag paintings and sculptures of everyday objects, they copy their subject with such precision that they fulfill the traditional belief that art should imitate nature. But the replication is almost too exact; without a trace of creative flourish, the sculptures become nearly indistinguishable from real soap pad cartons. This fluctuation between art object and consumer good—rooted in Marcel Duchamp’s readymades (works of art made from manufactured items selected, signed, and sometimes modified by the artist) and highlighted by Warhol’s tendency to stack the Brillo Boxes like warehouse stock—was a central concern and source of inspiration for many artists working in the United States during the 1960s.Social Tags [?]advertising [x] advertisment [x] andy warhol [x] art or life [x] capitalism [x] commercial [x] commodity [x] consumerism [x] found-object [x] intellectual [x] looking to write [x] mass production [x] mass-media [x] name brand [x] new and improved [x] non-critical [x] planned obsolescence [x] pop art [x] repetition [x] screenprint [x] visual [x] [Add Your Own Tags]* Works in the collection are moved off view for many different reasons. Although gallery locations on the website are updated regularly, there is no guarantee that this object will be on display on the day of your visit. |
