Warhol's controversial art was once rarely used as a commercial technique until the mid-20th century. Artist Andy Warhol initiated the visual style of pop art to explore the relationships between advertising, popular culture, and artistic expression. Although Warhol revolutionized pop art throughout the 1970s in the United States and around the world, he essentially used popular icons to become iconic, which raises controversy over whether he was a visionary genius, a sellout, or an extraordinary man of business. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay There were very few known artists who had experimented with pop art before Andy Warhol. However, one artist who created pop art shortly before and around the same time as Warhol was Roy Lichtenstein, whose works were inspired by comics. Andy Warhol, born on August 6, 1928, stated in a 1971 interview that he was also inspired by comics. Warhol grew up with his poor European immigrant family in Pittsburgh. As a child, Warhol suffered from illnesses including Sydenham's chorea and hypochondria, which is why he was bedridden for most of his childhood. Warhol described this period of his life as very influential in the development of his skills, preferences and personality; As he lay in his bed during those years, he drew pictures of the movie stars he would hear about while listening to the radio. When Warhol was a teenager he graduated from high school and initially wanted to attend the University of Pittsburgh for art education, but ended up attending the Carnegie Institute of Technology for commercial art. Here he learned strategies to get his career off the ground. During the 1950s Warhol first became famous for his drawings for shoe advertisements. He was then hired by RCA Records to design promotional materials and album covers. It wasn't until the 1960s that Warhol began drawing iconic American objects such as dollar bills and Coca-Cola. Warhol spent the 1970s finding many wealthy patrons, such as John Lennon and the Shah of Iran, to support his career. Andy Warhol challenged society with his business tactics and his celibacy. In Warhol's time, the typical artwork would have been much less vibrant and much more relaxed than the works created by Warhol. The artistic norm would be to support certain social characteristics such as promoting nationalism, eating at diners, and spending time with family. Warhol's money had a very important influence on his decisions to challenge artistic norms in society. Warhol himself stated that "making money is an art, working is an art and doing good business is the best art" (Warhol). It can be considered that he was a rather materialistic man, and therefore had qualities that might have made him seem as if he was betraying the heart of true art in exchange for his fame and fortune. Warhol became popular by promoting what was already popular at the time with works such as Campbell's Soup Cans (1962) - championing the delicious Campbell's soup) and Marilyn Diptych (1962) - promoting the actress Marilyn Monroe). In 1973 he also created a portrait entitled Mao, which shows the image of the famous communist leader Mao Zedong. He later portrayed singer Mick Jagger of the classic band The Rolling Stones creating a portrait called Mick Jagger (1975). If an artist gives people an image that they are already familiar with or already like, they are more likely to become more familiar with the artist and also like the artist. Warhol also became famous by using aesthetically pleasing images as dots.