Andy Warhol- Knives

A piece of artwork that I found to be unusual, and didn’t quite understand why it would be considered “artwork” is titled Knives, by Andy Warhol. It is an acrylic and silk screen on canvas. The date is 1981-1982. This piece of work was a preview for an exhibition of Andy Warhol.

At first impression, the piece simply looks to be a picture of six knives in pink and black color. The black background and the pink colored knives caught my attention as I was scrolling through the page. After I looked at the piece, I didn’t understand what made it art. Andy Warhol is famous for using normal everyday objects in his artwork. He was a leading figure in the pop art movement. After reading about this, I can see that Warhol definitely makes the images of the knives “pop”. The piece catches your attention and makes you give it a look. Two of the knives look to be the same type of knife, and the other four all look different from each other. I am unsure of if the knives are supposed to represent something other than knives. The two middle knives can be seen clearly, however, the other four handles of the knives are not easily visible. The knives seem to be an odd choice to be used in artwork because they are not usually seen in that type of setting. This piece may have come during a hard time of Andy Warhol’s life, because knives are used as weapons and can be seen as harmful. He also has done pieces involving guns, which are also used as weapons. Warhol is known for depicting violence and death, and this piece definitely follows that theme.

In the early to mid 1980’s, Andy Warhol had reoccurring themes of the dark side of American life and death, and also heaven and hell. He had pieces that included images of guns, knives, dollar signs, and crosses. People would usually associate knives with cooking, but in this piece Andy Warhol makes the viewer associate the knives with something dark and twisted, such as murder. Warhol does a good job of taking an everyday object that may not get a lot of thought, like the knives, and makes them appear in a way that makes you think of them much differently.

After doing research on Andy Warhol and his life, I looked at this piece a lot differently. At first glance, I thought the piece was just six knives, with no real central idea or message. It was just something that caught my eye. Now that I know some information about Andy Warhol and his life, I see that there is a central theme in this piece, and it is supposed to appear dark and violent, which it does. He has used other weapons in his art and has had periods of violent themes. I definitely look at this piece differently after knowing what the artist was trying to achieve and his reason for this piece.