Catmasutra Campbell Soup Series

Campbell's Soup Cans by Andy Warhol produced in 1962, consists of thirty-two canvases, each one consisting of a painting of the various canned soup flavors that the company offered at the time.

The Campbell soup is instantly recognizable both as an ordinary can of soup and also, amazingly as an icon for a major art movement - pop art! In the sixties, processed food signified American affluence and struck a chord with those who lived through the Depression. Herein lies the process for pop art and I always find this art movement intriguing. "The things represented within the paintings were available to people of most classes, while the paintings themselves, which proved to be highly marketable as art commodities, were likewise available, especially when reproduced as prints, posters, and postcards." (David MaCarthy, Pop Art, 2003).

Here pop artists are using the popularity of marketplace objects to help sell their own work - ingenious! In other words, it's allowing customers to buy and engage with their own tastes sanctified by the aura of fine art. In Catmasutra II , it dawned upon me to take those masterpieces that I love from great artists such as Seurat, Van Gogh, Monet, Magritte, Hockney and of course Warhol (which are available in prints of course) and immerse the Catmasutra cat as part of the landscape and viola, the birth of the Catmasutra Campbell Soup Series. The first was "Fish Soup" done in 2005 and "Hot Soup" in 2006 for Catmasutra 3.

Inevitably, I'm planning for another Campbell soup for Catmasutra 4 hmmm... what soup should it be?)