Yellow Moonwalk Artist: Andy Warhol Size: 38 x 38 Date: 1987 Medium: color screen print Location: Brigham Young University Museum of Art This image is discernibly a cartooned reproduction of the iconic photograph of the first time man walked on the moon. The image itself symbolizes the discovery of new territory but this coupled with the use of stark yellows and reds against a background of drab blues and greys suggests a breaking away from tradition altogether and a rise against authority. It is commonplace for Warhol to take a famous event or person and create art that becomes incorporated into popular culture. This particular image became affiliated with the television channel MTV. MTV stands for music television and was one of the popular television stations for teenagers of the nineteen-eighties. MTV featured popular music and artists of the times and created what has thrived into a booming industry that creates a yearning and a craving for fame among its viewers. The media is a powerful thing and Warhol understood this. The use of yellow and the blurring of detail in this reproduction give the image a more laid back, contemporary feel. Warhol’s images always seemed to be minimalist in nature, in that no more detail than was necessary was incorporated. This minimalist technique combined with the use of vivid colors a creates a field of interpretation The messages that many of Warhol’s images instill in his viewers are made even more apparent when examining his life. He emerged from the poverty and obscurity of an Eastern European immigrant family in Pittsburgh, to become an enigmatic lure for bohemian New York, and to ultimately find a place in the circles of High Society. In a sense he achieved the American dream in that he rose above where he started from, but the question is was this his goal? His eccentric behaviors and revolutionary ideals have kick started the pop culture movement and are still as well renowned today as they were when they were created. This fact suggests that the world, especially America, has come to celebrate those that are different especially those that have unique ideals and viewpoints. Through Warhol’s art viewers have the opportunity to get a glimpse into what must have been a jumbled and somewhat sadistic mind. Through commercial illustration, Warhol was able to influence popular tastes. This goes to show what a powerful affect the media can have on the world and how someone’s unique tastes and ideas can be used to manipulate society and even become common place to the point where they almost don’t seem eccentric anymore.