Andy Warhol and the Can that Sold the World

A master critic narrates the life of the extraordinary and controversial artist and sets his seminal work in the context of a turbulent, revolutionary age.In "Andy Warhol and the Can That Sold the World", one of America's wittiest and most incisive cultural critics tells the story of the deeply bizarre life out of which emerged Warhol's groundbreaking concept: massive - and massively influential - silk screens of one of the world's most ordinary objects. Indiana, who knew Warhol and who remains friends with members of his brilliant, chaotic circle, explores how the imagery of Soup Cans functioned both in Warhol's personal life and in the aesthetic and intellectual world he inhabited. In telling the story of this massive aesthetic revolution, the author reveals connections between Warhol's art and aspects of his life, of popular culture, of philosophy, or art history that no-one perhaps, other than Gary Indiana, would ever think to make.Indiana has used an iconic work of art to tell the story, warts and all, of an artist who deliberately became an icon himself. An unsparing portrait of a brilliant, intensely destructive, wildly creative and deeply narcissistic man, this book will unsettle both the fans and the detractors of the 20th century's most famous - and most enigmatic - artist.