In addition to my Charles White Museum of Modern Art post, I was able to wander around different exhibits within the museum. Andy Warhol’s exhibit, in particular, intrigued me the most within MOMA. This piece is called “The Last Supper” and it is made by Andy Warhol.
By first seeing what is going on in the print, I see that the traditional, biblical image of Jesus’s last supper is outlined in black and white. On top of this black and white image, we see a price tag of 59 cents, a Dove logo, and a General Electric Logo. These three supersized images that are colored connect the last supper to modern society. The General Electric logo suggests that religious symbols have been intertwined into everyday society, whether we’re religious or not. This is because the General Electric logo is designed in form of a monogram, something people use to put their initials in as a design. As for the Dove logo, we see that the dove is a constant symbol that represents the “Holy Spirit”. This reinforces the idea from the General Electric logo I’ve just mentioned since we have religious ideas and symbols integrated into our everyday lives. As for the price tag, we see that this could be one consequence of the other two logos. The price tag symbolizes the value we put on items. We’ve seen constantly in the past that religious leaders, especially of Christianity, rise in power since they were the norm in our society. We put a price tag of value in the specific religion. When John F. Kennedy was elected, for example, people we outraged at the fact that he was Catholic instead of your traditional Christianity faith. This in effect, twists and turns our mindset to think that one version of a belief makes one superior to another, which dangerous for our society because we block out the diversity of thoughts and perspectives.
Another way you can look at this image is through the type of medium it’s created by print. A print is traditionally associated with mass-produced items. T-shirt designs, for example, were first “printed” on them through stencils and paint. I think Andy Warhol is trying to suggest that religious symbols and popular ideologies have been torn apart from its initial intentions through mass production. This is because the last supper picture that is in black and white was centuries ago, but now with mass production, it’s most prevalent in society through branded logos by businesses.
Overall, I extremely enjoyed Andy Warhol’s Last Supper piece and I hope to revisit the MOMA sometime.
