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Post Art by Warhol

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Post Art by Warhol

The Post Art No. 1 Warhol by Komar and Melamid illustrates an old can of Campbell

Condensed Tomato Soup. The can is seen to be old and discolored. The painting can look like

one that had been forgotten and found after it had been eaten up by rust. The writings on the

can are still legible, but there are several missing letters due to different parts that have been

eaten out by rust. The painting is oil on canvas, which allows the artist to illustrate the other

aspects of the can. There are empty areas on top of the can, which shows that the can was not

fully formed. It had withstood some elements and rust, making it remain as an incomplete can

(Komar & Melamid, 1973). The colors are still visible, and the can is divided into two equal

parts, green and blue. The green function has "Campbell" written on it in a script style

followed by "condensed" under it in a sans serif font style. The lower blue part can have

"tomato" written in bold and green and "soup" under it written in green, but the letters form an

outline. The writings are a bit washed out, but they are legible, and they can be read. This

defines the feeling of an old can.

Post-Art No. 1 was a creation of Alexander Melamid and Vitaly Komar, both of whom

were born in Moscow before they moved to Israel. These two artists collaborated on a joint

exhibition entitled Retrospectivism in 1967 in Moscow, and they began signing their works

with their names regardless of collaboration (Komar & Melamid, 1973). In their collaboration,

their art was created not just as art but also as a movement. Through this approach, they made a

form of the art movement known as the Sots-art. This socialist art is conceptual,

nonconformist, and critical art based on the subversion and appropriation of street propaganda

and realist iconography (Komar & Melamid, 1973). Through this approach, they often created

grotesque and often humorous banners, paintings, and posters. These artists took place in the
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"Bulldozer Exhibition," which was filled with nonconformist agendas. They met up to

showcase their nonconformist art from multiple Moscow avant-garde artists, after which the

authorities destroyed them with water cannons and bulldozers.

Post Art is a collection of six paintings that depicted the canonical pop art of different

artists, including Peter Philips, Tom Wesselman, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Roy

Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol (Komar & Melamid, 1973). These are portrayed as though they

had undergone a lot of physical damage through natural phenomena such as earthquakes and

fires and humanmade activities such as war. These aesthetic pieces act as a reminder of the

decay of the frescoes art style, which leads to the development of questions on the artistic

value of the canonical artworks (Bulanova & Rosenfeld, 2006). For instance, Post Art No 1 is a

frayed and discolored fragment of the Andy Warhol Campbell's soup can. While the approach

taken on the motif renders the works barely legible, the work is still recognizable.

The work was created concerning socialist art developed by Komar and Melamid. This

was the nonconformist art that focused on the street agenda and realist iconography. This art

colludes to the cultural context in which it was created (Bulanova & Rosenfeld, 2006). The

physical decay somewhat illustrates the developments and the destruction of the governments

at the time. It has a clear plan, which is to explore the subversion and appropriation of street

propaganda. It focuses on expressing the viewpoint of those that created the socialist in a

nonconformist manner.

The artwork was made for nonconformist audiences, and this was meant to illustrate the

effects of different kinds of elements on society. Through the illustration of the decay, it

expresses the aging aspect of matter and material. The work of art demonstrates the impact of

nature on the subject. The piece of art was created to keenly criticize the art market and the
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impact of the Soviet government on the market, consumerism which had been guided by

communism, and different other human excesses.

With the increasing control of the state after the war, the government wanted their

vision to be represented in the visual artists' works in the Soviet Union (Bulanova & Rosenfeld,

2006). In content and form, the government decided on social realism as an artistic expression

that promotes a worldview that expressed loyalty to the paternalistic regime, which focused on

the celebration of life promised by the Soviet citizens to their governments ( Bulanova &

Rosenfeld, 2006). This schedule was relatively easy to note from the paintings. They included

paintings that illustrated healthy and happy citizens, including loyal workers in the factory,

brave soldiers, and hardworking farmers. The focus of this kind of art was to ensure that Soviet

ideals were reinforced.

The creation of realist visual art as a form of mimetic and representational art focused

on depicting objects that could be claimed and recognized. They identified a kind of art that

represented real life (Bulanova & Rosenfeld, 2006). However, socialist realism often demanded

the kind of art that put the soviet life in a good light. It used a symbolic approach that ensured

the identical interpretations for every viewer. Pieces of art created in this time ensure that they

expressed similar ideas to illustrate a shared vision which, according to the Soviet authorities,

would strengthen the collective identities of the Soviet Union and it would direct the

imaginations of the citizens towards the construction of an ideal society (Bulanova &

Rosenfeld, 2006).

However, this approach was different from what the Post Art No 1 attempted to create,

which was forming a fragmented image that echoed a nonconformist art (Komar & Melamid,

1979). Instead of visualizing and developing a shared reality, nonrepresentational images

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created the artist's inaccessible inner life and the possibility of a varied, highly personal, and

varied inner life of the artist. From this approach, there was a likelihood of developing multiple

interpretations of the image instead of collective experience and identity (Komar & Melamid,

1979). Nonconformist artists such as Komar and Melamid risked working outside of a system

sanctioned by the state. Their main concern was finding support for their livelihoods and

materials.

Additionally, they were also supposed to find models for their nonrepresentational art

from which they drew inspiration (Komar & Melamid, 1979). Instead of depicting a soviet

reality that was intended to be mimicked and recognized easily by viewers, the Soviet Union's

surrealist artists illustrated dreamlike, absurd, and fantastic scenarios (Komar & Melamid,

1979). The state authorities found that the absence of narrative, reference, and precise meaning

in these subjects to be highly subversive.

With the current world peace and development, there are different ways to relate to art.

There is little to nonconformist and rebellion towards the government, mostly due to a

democratic system that allows people to make choices on the kind of governments they need.

In this aspect, the change ensures a change in tastes and preferences towards a more subtle

liking. Currently, the view I have of art is due to its conceptual emotion and how different

kinds of art evoke particular feelings and thoughts. Therefore, despite the assumption that the

Post Art No 1 art was created as a nonconformist art, it is impossible to know the artist's actual

views. Art reflects particular identities, beliefs, and cultural values, and they assist in the

preservation of different communities that make up the world. Through art, the diverse

experiences and life is chronicled by art, and we need art to ensure that we understand the

shared history we have.

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References

Bulanova, M., & Rosenfeld, A. (2006). Soviet Dis-Union: Socialist Realist & Nonconformist Art.

Museum of Russian Art.

Komar & Melamid. (1973). Komar & Melamid | Post-Art No. 1 (Warhol) (1973). Retrieved

October 5, 2020, from https://www.artsy.net/artwork/komar-and-melamid-post-art-no-1-

warhol

Komar, V., & Melamid, A. (1979). Komar/Melamid, two Soviet dissident artists. Southern

Illinois University Press.