Marilyn Monroe Andy Warhol - BE@RBRICK
Andy Warhol is one of the 20th century's most well-known artists. His contribution to the pop art movement changed how society viewed everyday life as art and art as everyday life. Medicom Toys added Andy Warhol to their long list of impressive collaborators in 2016. One of the most visually striking figures from this partnership is the "BE@RBRICK Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe 100% & 400% Set."
Andy Warhol x BE@RBRICK Collaboration Background
As of early 2021, the Andy Warhol x BE@BRICK collaboration has produced nine figure models. Each figure comes with at least a 400% size option. Further size options include 100% and 1000%.
Collaboration Planning and Launch
The collaboration between the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts and Medicom Toys began in 2014. Medicom Toy showcased a special limited collection of BE@RBRICK figures resembling the artist himself. The three style options included Warhol's appearance in the 1960s, one of him in the 1980s, and one using Warhol's silkscreen style. The collaboration expanded to include a fourth Warhol design in 2016. Medicom began reproducing Warhol artwork on BE@RBRICKS in 2019 with the Double Mona Lisa.
BE@RBRICK Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe 100% & 400% Set
This BE@RBRICK figure set shows one of Andy Warhol's most iconic subjects on repeat: Marilyn Monroe. The figure set features a repetitive pattern using Warhol's Twenty-Five Colored Marilyns as a base. Unlike Warhol's original painting, the Marilyns on the figure do not form a grid. Instead, each segment of the bear features a new start to the portrait repetition. The set includes a 100% version BE@RBRICK, standing at roughly 2.8 inches, and a 400% version standing at 11 inches. Both figures feature a print of Warhol's signature on the back, outlined in white and paired with a small black and white portrait of the artist.
- Product Name: BE@RBRICK Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe 100％ & 400％ Set
- Manufacturer: Medicom Toy
- Specifications: Set of 2 painted, articulated, non-scale figures
- Set Contents:
Ver. 100% (height: 70mm | 2.8")
Ver. 400% (height: 280mm | 11")
About Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol was an American painter and member of the pop art movement. Warhol's career began in the 1950s while working in advertising. He transitioned to showing his art in galleries by the 1960s and produced some of his most famous works in 1962. After surviving a murder attempt in 1968, Warhol shifted his focus to working for famous patrons throughout the 1970s. The 1980s brought a return to avant-garde art prominence. Warhol formed many fortunate friendships with prominent artists of the time, such as Jean-Michel Basquiat. Warhol died in 1987 after surgery complications related to his age and a previous abdominal gunshot wound.
About Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe
The work shown in the BE@RBRICK is part of Andy Warhol's series on Marilyn Monroe, Twenty-Five Colored Marilyns. After Monroe's death in the summer of 1962, Warhol painted 22 portraits of her before the end of the year. The subject of the painting is not Monroe but the publicity photograph Warhol used. Each repeated image features uneven inking, giving each entry a handmade quality. As with most of Warhol's celebrity portraits, the repeated image brings the viewer to question Monroe's saturated media presence.
Other Important Andy Warhol Artwork
Warhol's work from the 1960s launched his career as a leader in the pop art movement. These works include comments on consumerism and asking the viewer to question what society considers art.
The Marilyn Diptych
The Marilyn Diptych is a silkscreen painting completed in 1962. Warhol completed the painting in the weeks following Monroe's death. The painting itself consists of 50 images split into two distinct left and right sides. A publicity shot from Monroe's film Niagara, repeats identically across the painting in five rows and ten columns. The 25 paintings on the right remain black and white with the seventh column smudged vertically. The left side contains colored portraits with saturated colors and orange background. Art critics believe the two distinct sides represent Monroe's life and death respectively. The Marilyn Diptych is one of Warhol's most well-known works. Currently, it resides in the collection of the Tate in the United Kingdom.
Banana
Along with his work as an artist, Warhol famously managed the band The Velvet Underground. He designed the band's most famous album cover, which became a symbol of the band itself. The cover included a single banana painted in Warhol's boldly inked, silkscreen style. However, on the albums the banana could be peeled back, revealing a red and flesh-like banana fruit behind it. The bodily implications combined with Warhol's commentary on mass-produced consumerism paired perfectly with the band's image. Today, the banana represents Warhol's connection to the experimental rock scene and The Velvet Underground's cutting-edge approach to music.
Related Figures
Medicom Toys has produced BE@RBRICK figures using Warhol's portraits of commodified celebrities in the 1960s. One of 2021's first Warhol BE@RBRICK releases is the BE@RBRICK Andy Warhol's Elvis Presley 100％ & 400％ Set. The figure takes inspiration from Warhol's painting Triple Elvis, painted in 1963.
Links
BE@RBRICK Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe 100% & 400% Set
BE@RBRICK Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe 1000％
BE@RBRICK Andy Warhol's Elvis Presley 100％ & 400％ Set
BE@RBRICK Series
BE@BRICK Label
Andy Warhol Label
Marilyn Monroe Label