Andy Warhol and the Can that Sold the World [Hardcover]

Gary Indiana (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 9, 2010

In the summer of 1962, Andy Warhol unveiled 32 Soup Cans in his first solo exhibition at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles—and sent the art world reeling. The responses ran from incredulity to outrage; the poet Taylor Mead described the exhibition as “a brilliant slap in the face to America.” The exhibition put Warhol on the map—and transformed American culture forever. Almost single-handedly, Warhol collapsed the centuries-old distinction between “high” and “low” culture, and created a new and radically modern aesthetic.

In Andy Warhol and the Can that Sold the World, the dazzlingly versatile critic Gary Indiana tells the story of the genesis and impact of this iconic work of art. With energy, wit, and tremendous perspicacity, Indiana recovers the exhilaration and controversy of the Pop Art Revolution and the brilliant, tormented, and profoundly narcissistic figure at its vanguard.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The latest from cultural critic and author Indiana (Utopia's Debris) explores the legacy of Andy Warhol through his most famous and, arguably, groundbreaking work, 1962's Campbell's Soup Cans, a group of 32 20"x16" paintings of the ubiquitous red-and-white canned staple. Beginning with a brief look at Warhol's impoverished childhood, Indiana focuses in on the creation and impact of the famed Soup Cans, resulting is an exhaustive report on the Pop Art movement and its relationship to contemporary culture, featuring vibrant commentary on the way a single piece can stand in for an entire oeuvre. Indiana is highly knowledgeable regarding the art world and Warhol's work, and can assume a similarly sophisticated level of understanding in his reader; as such, he will probably leave casual fans behind with dashed-off discussion of the art scene at large. For those already fluent in the man or the movement, Indiana's in-depth look at Soup Cans is a welcome refresher on the power of a single vision not just to make a remarkable career, but to recast the world in a new light.
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Review

Newsweek
“Engrossing”

Buffalo News
“Elegant and impressive…[a] witty, smart, near-definitive consideration of Warhol.”

San Diego Tribune
“Gary Indiana’s Andy Warhol and the Can That Sold the World is a fresh portrait of the artist…No one has dissected Warhol’s complex personality better. And no one has written more concisely and accessibly about him.”

Lincoln Journal Star
“Heartily recommend[ed]…I’ve got a shelf of Warhol books - biographies, essays, exhibition catalogs - and I’ve seen dozens of exhibitions of his work. Indiana’s book added something to my knowledge and understanding of Warhol, which is saying something.”

Baltimore City Paper
“A thoughtful look at the late Pop artist’s defining work…in narrowing his focus, the author locates and captures Warhol’s essence.”

Liberty Press
“Indiana is able to give a fresh and new perspective on one of America’s most enigmatic 20th-century artistic figures, beyond any other biography heretofore.”

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (February 9, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465002331
• ISBN-13: 978-0465002337
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #390,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Can and the Swirly, August 24, 2010

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great expectations reviews (out there) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Andy Warhol and the Can that Sold the World (Hardcover)

"The Can" is often used as slang for the toilet and that is where Mr. Indiana believes Warhol's success ultimately led - to the flushing of American culture into the sewer of celebrity and consumerism. Well perhaps not a full flush, but Mr. Indiana convincingly argues that Warhol's "Cans" gave American culture at least a swirly leading to a paradigm shift away from cultural recognition based on issues of substance and merit and toward recognition based on fickle perceptions of personal presentation (and public drama) played-out through commodity-centered capitalism.

Here is the great paradox though - and Mr. Indiana's through-going critique examines these issues head-on - Warhol "achieved" celebrity because of the substance of his innovative ideas about art (which happen to be about the insubstantiality of what constitutes as art) and not necessarily the mileu nor the public persona that he fostered: "Warhol was the protean maker of meaningful images remarkable for their apparent meaninglessness (p. 90)."

While one might quibble with the inferred notion that American culture is or ever was a meritocracy, and to his credit the author deftly avoids characterizing the driving forces of American culture before the "Cans," Instead Mr. Indiana places us directly in the tidy yet tumultuous bowl of the Abstract Expressionists: "The rationale for a hierarchy of aesthetic pleasure was that some art was ennobling and other art coarsening (p. 62)." Mr. Indiana shines here - not since Tom Wolfe's The Painted Veil (1975?) has any author measured the trough and crest of the AbEx's Artworld so astutely - locating Warhol's "Cans" at the vanguard of a leveling and democratizing art movement: "The Soup Can effect was not to rescue American banalities from banality, but to give banality itself value (p. 91)." (Consider The Painted Veil a primer.)

And to top it all off Mr. Indiana's clean, clear, and insightful prose are a fast-read. How fast - you might ask - 15 minutes fast? Nope, putting aside the car crash like reflexive judgments about the purported vacuousness of America's current mash-up of celebrity and consumer culture, what really swirls out the other end of Mr. Indiana's fine work is a smart, must read, art historical analysis. If you read only one book about Warhol - this is the one! Mr. Indiana's fine book breaks from Warhol's dictum to "always leave them wanting less."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Key to any arts collection, May 13, 2010

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Andy Warhol and the Can that Sold the World (Hardcover)

Andy Warhol and the Can That Sold the World tells of the first solo exhibition of Warhol's works in Los Angeles in 1962, the Campbell's Soup cans, and considers their origins and Warhol's early years. In silk-screening an ordinary object, Warhol rose to fame and fostered a new area for the arts: Andy Warhol and the Can That Sold the World is more than just another Warhol expose; it's a survey of a new movement, and is key to any arts collection.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The significance of the can, March 9, 2010

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wogan "the book reader" - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Andy Warhol and the Can that Sold the World (Hardcover)

Andy Warhol's soup cans are a symbol of the pop art revolution and this small 155 page book gives a brief biography of Andy Warhol and of the US art world post WWII. It is done in simple enough terms that most can understand the philosophy behind both the art movements and the swirl that enveloped Warhol's life.
There are some overstatements, such as Warhol's upbringing-visits to Greek Catholic church rituals and icons provided the inspiration for his portraits of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe.
Warhol's lifestyle, his relationship with his mother, with whom he lived most of his life are covered. Comparisons are made of him and other modern artists such as Rauschenerg. Of course the main emphasis is on the significance of his soup cans; but the party and celebrity scene are covered as well.
The major shortcoming with the book and that was probably as a cost cutting measure is that there are absolutely no pictures. This could have been an extremely instructional and informative book if there would have been some illustrations. It seems hard to imagine an art book that lacks art.