It has often been said that, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I think that Andy Warhol would have agreed. After all, how else to explain such blatant appropriation boldly championed as art..? I reviewed the assigned readings, and I was torn between trying to conclude if Warhol was a genuine genius, or a con-man of historical proportions. I mean, I don't think that P.T. Barnum was too far of the mark, if you'll pardon the expression, when he allowed that, there's one born every minute. Laugh if you will, but we are the very same culture that celebrated pop-rocks and mood-rings! Anyway, I did a little research on Mr. Warhol, and came up with the following quote, which subsequently guided my own efforts.
They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.
Andy Warhol - The Philosophy of Andy Warhol
Inspired by that thought, and visions of Campbell's soup cans, I decided to begin with the ubiquitous Grateful Dead dancing bear. Man, it's everywhere! I see it on T-shirts, lunch-boxes, bumper-stickers - you name it. The original image appears in the upper left-hand-corner of my matrix, and was located with a Google Images search for grateful dead. The source url given, which unfortunately doesn't work, is:
http://www.angelfire.com/80s/chile/silhouettes
I had originally planned to generate only six images for this assignment, but I had so much fun playing with the various techniques taught by team three, that in the end I created over a dozen variations of the original theme. Of these, I chose eight favorites. In terms of technique, I was quite taken with the fill, stroke, gradient, and filter options. I also experimented with using the type mask to cut and filled text, and drop shadowing too. I can't believe how much I've improved in just a little more than a month!
Finally, I'll conclude with some comments on the very question that inspired these efforts, and I think that I'll side with Warhol on this one. Appropriated art might be seen as a seed. In a sense then, it is akin to the grain of sand that becomes a pearl, via the magic of the mollusk. Given that, there's no sense clamming-up about it, and I proudly proclaim myself a digital Dali!