Artist research.

Screen-print.

Robert Rauschenburg and Andy Warhol are two of the influential artists that have adapted screen and silk printing into their practice. Both have taken different approaches, Rauschenburg using mainline media and photographic images in combination with hand painting on large canvases. Warhol however has surrounded the topic of death and fame within his work, he has created prints that use repetition and the deterioration of the screen to depict this.

Robert Rauschenburg

Considered by many as one of the most influential American artists due to his radical blending of materials and methods. He was a crucial figure in implementing the change from abstract expressionism to later modern movements like pop-art. His experimental approach to the creation of his work expanded the traditional boundaries of how we perceive and how future artists make art. As one of the key members of the Neo-Dada movement Rauschenburg engaged in questioning the definition of a work and the role of an artist, he shifted from a conceptual outlook and make interaction with popular media and mass produced goods which reflected his unique artistic vision. He merged the realms of kitsch and fine art employing the media and found objects within his 'combines' by incorporating photographs and general urban detritus amongst standard wall paintings. The interpretation of his artworks were left to his viewers which allowed them study the placement and combination of the photographs and found objects in his work. 

'Glaze' 1975

'Untitled' 1963


Andy Warhol

Regarded as a leading figure of the pop-art movement and one of the most influential contemporary artists of his generation. He was a successful commercial illustrator which instigated his rise as a popular mainstream figurehead in the art world using his natural ability to emphasise product and/or people. Warhol's art work is reminiscent of the contemporaries before him including inspiration by Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenburg, like them he uses and responds to popular mass-media. His silk-screen prints and paintings of cultural and consumer icons whether it be Marylin Monroe or Campbells soup cans made him one of the most recognised artists of his time. His work surrounded alternate topics away from the consumer or cultural work, Warhol depicted death in a series of works, he used car crashes and electric chairs in repetition letting the screen itself deteriorate.

'Electric chair' 1985

'Campbells soup' 1968

Rauschenburg and Warhol are both influential artists in my own practise, their approach to their work and the aesthetic outcomes resonate within my prints and paintings. Through researching them I am going to try and take forward their way of responding anf using the mass-media and found objects as inspiration and using it within their work as collages.