Art à la Warhol (1) – The Taming of the Shoe
I recently had the privilege of experiencing the world-debut of “Andy Warhol 15 Minutes Eternal” at the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands, here in Singapore.
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| Warhol’s series of posters called “The Taming of the Shoe” Image Source |
The retrospective presents over 260 artworks including favourites such as Marilyn Monroe (1967), Campbell’s Soup Can (1961) and The Last Supper (1986). Luckily, my husband and I decided to go to the show at night when there were just trickles of museum visitors which also meant there were still audio guides available for rent. Normally, you have to rush through a show because there are just way too many tourists wanting to view the works, but not this time. I had the luxury of taking my lovely time as I immersed in the ‘journey through five decades of Warhol’s prolific career and come face to face with the work that brought him eternal fame.’(text from the show’s pamphlet).
This week I bring you “Art à la Warhol“. We’ll look into key works that give us a window to a particular point in his life and the experiences that brought about that expression. Then, we’ll do art projects to mimic the Warhol style.
Today, we’ll start off with Warhol’s
“The Taming of the Shoe”.
“The Taming of the Shoe”.Andy Warhol’s Shoe Period
Warhol showed early artistic talent and studied commercial art at the School of Fine Arts at Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, (now Carnegie Mellon University). In 1949, he moved to New York City and began a career in magazine illustration and advertising. During the 1950s, he gained fame for his whimsical ink drawings of shoe advertisements.
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By the beginning of the 1960s, Warhol had become a very successful commercial illustrator. His detailed and elegant drawings for I. Miller shoes were particularly popular. They consisted mainly of “blotted ink” drawings (or monoprints), a technique which he applied in much of his early art. Although many artists of this period worked in commercial art, most did so discreetly. Warhol was so successful, however, that his profile as an illustrator seemed to undermine his efforts to be taken seriously as an artist.Info Source
Let’s make Embellished Shoe Art
à la Warhol
à la Warhol
Andy Warhol
Shoe, 1950s
gold leaf, tempera, & collage
on wood shoe form
Note: Embellishing must have been something Andy learned from his mother Julia who hailed from Eastern Europe where this crafting technique was popular.
You’ll need:
an old high heel shoe
glue gun/glue stick
gold spray paint
lace
other add-ons
(check out your scrapbooking supplies)
optional: digital camera
Let’s begin:
- Wipe the shoe clean.
- Play around with your design idea. Moving your add-ons around until you find the ‘look’ that you want. Use some clear tape to temporarily adhere the components.
- Take photos along the way so you will remember your design.
- Look at your images on the computer and print the design that you will use for this project.
- Adhere components one by one using a glue gun/stick.
- Spray the shoe (with all the add-ons) with gold paint. If you are feeling adventurous, there are some specialty paints available that can give you an ‘antique gold look’.
- Allow to dry completely.
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| Andy Warhol, 1968 Photo Source |
“I never wanted to be a painter.
I wanted to be a tap dancer.”
-Andy Warhol-
DAILY DOSE OF ART 
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