My first experience with Andy Warhol came with my viewing of the Wexner Center for the Arts’s exhibition entitled, “Other Voices, Other Rooms.” After the somewhat disappointing exhibition I knew that there had to be more to the works than what met the eye. I couldn’t help but think, “Is that it? Is that really what caused people to think he’s such a genius?” My curiosity compelled me to checked out the official exhibition book, Andy Warhol: A Guide to 706 Items in 2 Hours 56 Minutes. It was in this book that I found my answer. Warhol’s works focused on four main points: personal identity, social transgression, consumer culture, and celebrity worship. With this explanation I came to the conclusion that while Andy Warhol’s work is very controversial, it is also very intriguing. But is Warhol a visionary as some say, or just a sell-out?

I’m with those who say he’s a visionary. He predicted the future of pop culture before it came to be. His four main principles of his artwork are still very present in popular culture; they have just evolved to a higher level. And, as big of a fuss as these ideals caused in Warhol’s time, they now consume our daily lives. There is no escaping them: they are in the tabloids seen at grocery stores and in waiting rooms, they are in commercials that are seen on TV, and they are in the lyrics of almost every song produced. This prediction elucidates his genius and provides everyone with good reason to respect and preserve his legacy.

"The media has always created "in-style" images that consumers are supposed to follow, but these unknowns showed viewers that it was possible to be whoever they want and still grab their share of the limelight. Warhol also used a variety of consumer products such as " Campbell's Soup Cans" and "Brillo Boxes" to show consumer trends and the effect of name brands. And we, as consumers, ate the stuff up."

To talk about one of Warhol’s principles is to discuss them all; they are interrelated. Let’s start with the most evident in his works, the concept of celebrity worship. Many of his artworks were mass prints of the celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Mick Jagger, and Elvis Presley. These are some of his most famous and well-known works. Why? Because everyone knows who celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley are, and by using these icons, Warhol became iconic. He was also was obsessed with Polaroids and photos. He took many pictures of celebrities, created his own magazine called Interview, and made poorly-produced TV shows and movies with unknown actors/actresses, introducing them to fame. Eventually, the shows became famous enough to air on MTV, a channel we all know for pushing celebrity obsession. Interview gave many celebs the opportunity to be heard and have their picture slathered across the pages of a magazine produced by a famous pop icon.

The dealings with celebrities and Warhol’s venture into film media leads into some of his work concerning social transgression. Warhol worked with many famous musicians to design their album covers. He created risqué covers for bands like The Rolling Stones and The Velvet Underground. One of The Stones’s covers has a pair of jeans with a real, pull-down zipper on it and The Velvet Underground’s cover has a banana that you could actually peel to reveal a symbolic flesh-colored banana. Warhol also made a movie entitled “Blowjob,” which is pretty much self-explanatory. It shows the upper half of a man receiving a blowjob, but the movie itself isn’t anything contentious; it’s the fact that Warhol chose such a provocative name for it. The viewer could always insinuate that something sexual is happening, but without the title they would never know for sure. Another signature of Warhol was pictures and videos of men in drag; not usually a socially accepted activity.

Drag queens, which bring us to personal identity, were used throughout many of Warhol’s works. They portrayed his own struggle with personal identity or they portrayed his possible struggle with his sexuality. In the exhibition, there is a small case devoted to displaying pictures of a cross-dressed Warhol. But, it goes further than that. There are countless Polaroids and self-portraits of Warhol depicting various sides of him and many different identities he could be. His self-portraits give the message that a person can be whomever they please. Through hair, make-up, and other self-alterations anything or anyone is possible in Warhol’s eyes.

So where does consumer culture tie into all of this? It’s all about advertisement. Andy Warhol quoted that everyone will have his or her “fifteen minutes of fame” and used many unknown starts in his works to demonstrate this philosophy. It didn’t matter that viewers didn’t know them; they were intrigued anyway. The media has always created “in-style” images that consumers are supposed to follow, but these unknowns showed viewers that it was possible to be whoever they want and still grab their share of the limelight. Warhol also used a variety of consumer products such as “ Campbell’s Soup Cans” and “Brillo Boxes” to show consumer trends and the effect of name brands. And we, as consumers, ate the stuff up.

So now you may be asking yourself, “How does this fit in to today? How is this relevant?” For those of you who think that Warhol is just another sell-out, it’s time to pay attention. Over the years, our culture has continually grown more celebrity obsessed than ever. Warhol had the vision; he created Interview; he fueled the population’s celebrity fixation with a magazine that could be comparable to present day US, Star, and other celebrity magazines. It was a vision that led to present day paparazzi and trashy gossip tabloids. While many people might not know where Darfur is and about the terrible things happening there, everyone gets the lives and events of people like Oprah Winfrey and Paris Hilton shoved in their faces at all times.

As for social transgression, we all thought that Warhol’s cover for The Stones was semi-scandalous with that pull down zipper, but now we see CD covers covered in naked women, like the new Hinder cover. And even though Warhol made a movie about a man receiving a blowjob, it never actually showed anything but the guy’s face. Today there are movies and music videos that show very provocative sexual acts, and it’s socially acceptable. The movie “Walk Hard,” actually shows full-on male genitalia. And just as that’s now socially acceptable, it’s also socially acceptable to be blatantly homosexual. Back in the sixties it was a scary thing to come out of the closet, but now there are famous celebrities such as Ellen Degeneres who are gay, famous, and society loves them. They are able to show their personal identity.

Now for the consumer culture. We are the consumer culture. We have made Warhol’s vision a reality by pouring our money into things that have to do with celebrities, name brands, and things endorsed by the media as “cool.” As consumed as we were in Warhol’s time, pop culture now has the population eating out of the palm of its hand. We are consumed by new technologies such as Myspace and YouTube. And it all started with Warhol and his vision of “everyone will have their fifteen minutes of fame.” He knew what the people wanted: celebrities, controversy, name brands, and popularity. And it was his style to give the people what they wanted, over and over again, through his art.

Whether we like it or not, Andy Warhol is a visionary. He highlighted aspects of pop-culture that are huge in our society today. His ideals of celebrity worship, social transgression, personal identity, and consumer culture have thrived throughout the years. His work involving these ideals is reason to preserve him and his legacy. I encourage you, visit the exhibition; check out what he has to offer; he provided us with the entertainment and controversy that we adore. And please, keep an open mind, or else you will miss out on the foundations of present-day pop culture and the iconic artist who created them.