Andy Warhol

 A leading art figure in the art movement ‘pop art’ Warhol forced the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that had taken over during  the 1960s. His work crossed across many different medias such as hand drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, silk screening, sculpture, film, and music.

Time capsules

As part of Warhol’s life work he created time capsules, collecting about 4000 audio tapes, over half a million objects, film, sculpture, painting, video art and graphic art, as well as clothing and wigs. Showing work from his public and private life. These capsules span almost 30 years, staring in the early 1960’s till his death in 1987.

Background Information

The Time Capsules are Warhol’s largest collecting project; in them, he saved source material for his work and an enormous record of his daily life. Warhol started his Time Capsules in 1974 after relocating his studio. He recognized that cardboard boxes used in the move were an efficient method for dealing with all of his “stuff.” Warhol selected items from magazines, newspapers, gifts, photographs, business records, and material that passed through his hands to put in an open cardboard box by his desk. Once the box was full he sealed it with tape, marked it with a date and/or title, and put it in his archive. As a collection this material provides a unique view into Warhol’s private world, as well as a broad cultural backdrop showing the social and artistic scene during his lifetime. From the early ’70s, until his death in 1987, Warhol created 612 finished Time Capsules.

Andy Warhol’s Time Capsules were almost completely unknown until his death in 1987. Although various studio assistants frequently handled the boxes over the years, few people recognized the enormous ammount of material. With the opening of The Andy Warhol Museum in 1994, the Time Capsules became accessible to curators, scholars, and the general public, revealing new and important information about Warhol’s life and expanding the public’s understanding of his work and practice.

Personal Analysis

I really like how Warhol created these time capsules, I think they give a great incite in to his life, it also makes you think about the things you do and the significance of objects and items in our day to day lives. I think collecting items over my summer really gave me an incite into Warhol’s colleting over the 30 years. As I collected my objects over my summer I understand how time consuming it is, as well as difficult to know what items are intresting and exciting to keep. I think both of our work reflects a time in our life and siginificant things that happened to us. Warhol's work strongly refects his memories and I hope I was able to do that in my work and throught the items I collected in my summer