Andy Warhol: Mugs

The new Mug Collection by Thomas includes six different Warhol motifs which can either be viewed as individual works of art themselves or also fit in with the overall work of art as one entity. Warhol quotations are to be found on the inside of the mugs while the outer surfaces are decorated with the motifs insects, cow, Campbell’s, lips, camouflage and dogs.
Happy Bug Day: “You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you.” The early drawings on paper dating from the 1950s give unique insight into Andy Warhol’s artistic roots, before he began writing art history with his large format screen prints.   The “Happy Bug Day” piece for example, that was created in around 1954 as a litho-offset print with watercolour on artist’s board, is a wonderful demonstration of the budding pop art artist’s early talent. One would like to see the same splendour applied to modern gift wrapping, for example.
Cow: “I like things to be exactly the same over and over again.” Warhol designed the cow motif in 1966 and reproduced it using the screen printing process.  He had a preference for reproducing his motifs time and time again, arranging them alongside each other.
Campbell’s: “Art is what you can get away with.” The famous screen print of the soup tin from the 1960s is one of the first motifs which Warhol reproduced using this technique. Warhol used advertising images such as Campbell’s Tomato Soup or cola bottles. He took the familiar element, enlarged it to a monumental size and duplicated it. In just a few weeks during the summer of 1962 the graphic designer learned how to apply the photographic screen printing technique. The new technique also fitted in well with the pop art desire for “serial pieces”, which corresponded to a mass product culture.
Lips: “Everybody winds up kissing the wrong person goodnight.” The lips are works dating from the 1950s.
Camouflage: “But am I covered? I have to look in the mirror for some more clues. Nothing is missing. It’s all there.” Warhol’s series of acrylic “camouflage” pictures evades every defined meaning. Are these military patterns with their cheerful primary colours a consequent continuation of the camouflage principle, created for all those who do not want to draw attention to themselves in a club or shopping centre? Or do they actually draw attention to themselves and therefore negate their original purpose? With Warhol the work of art becomes a pure camouflage: He camouflages himself.
So Big and So Little: “I never met an animal I didn’t like.” The drawings of dogs originate from the 1950s.