Becoming Andy Warhol

September 26, 2016
Soup cans and Marilyn Monroe prints appear prominently in this history of the iconic artist, but it’s Warhol himself who is portrayed as the work in progress. In a series of sharp, staccato chapters, the book packs substantial vigor into a swift narrative, following Warhol’s two-year journey from commercial illustrator to art-world icon. Bertozzi’s (Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey) introduction admits that liberties have been taken with history, events, and timing, but his script and dialogue ring true to the Warhol we like to imagine: an artist comfortable with facts evolving into legend. Without slavishly aping Warhol’s style, newcomer Hargan creates bold visuals for movement, anxiety, and verve. Even pages filled with talking heads are energetic, the line art highlighted with shades of purple. A sleek, arresting front cover sporting Ben-Day dots and a shiny chrome finish (mirroring the color scheme of Warhol’s Factory) enhance this illuminating portrait of the grit and glamour of Warhol’s pill-fueled origin years.

October 15, 2016
Bertozzi and Hargan depict the ultimate pop artist's breakthrough period, May 1962 to November 1964, from his first interview with TIME magazine to opening his first show at New York's top-of-the-heap Leo Castelli Gallery. Determined to burst out of the commercial art world, Warhol was creating the repetitive series that would become his trademark work, meeting crucial collaborators, acquiring a movie camera and a tape recorder, moving to the Factory. Bertozzi wisely elects to tell the story via dialogue only, without impersonal text except for time and place markers (e.g., The Factory January 1964 ). Hargan's black, white, and purple art blends the faces of mid-twentieth-century comic strips like Blondie, Dennis the Menace, and Dondi; the slim figures and expressive poses of realist comics like Eddie Campbell's; careful rendering of architectural exteriors; and a variety of single-tone and simply patterned backdrops in interiors and close-ups. A smart and cool presentation of a major paradigm shift in American fine art.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)