Andy Warhol was a self-made brand who built his art career on existing brands like Brillo and Campbell's. When I was a kid introduced to Pop Art, I frankly could not understand what the fuss was about. I went to Saturday art classes at MoMA and learned to appreciate Surrealist, Expressionist and even Abstract Expressionist art, but no one was able to explain to me the whole Warhol phenomenon. I also took the occasional class at The Art Students League, but rather than try to explain Warhol, the teachers ignored his work.
Sometime, however, between 1960 and 1964, Pop Art clicked. If not in an academic or historical way, then as a transformation of the role and meaning of modern art from inspirational to observational, with a hint of the transformational.
Maybe if I'd had Andy Warhol, written by Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara and illustrated by Timothy Hunt, my appreciation for Warhol's contributions would have matured earlier. Part of the growing Barcelona-based series of books for children, "Little People, BIG DREAMS," here Warhol is condensed into a biographical format perfectly suited for a young, early reader audience.
Dozens of important public figures have been given the "Little People, BIG DREAMS" treatment; the books are always penned by Vegara and illustrated by a crew of excellent contributing artists. Kudos for conceiving and producing such a valuable and enjoyable venture.
