Mobil 350 by Andy Warhol comes from his Ads portfolio, in which he depicts multiple popular ads of the time. In this series, Warhol adopts an advertisement and incorporates his own spin through the use of vibrant colors. Mobil 350 is Warhol’s artistic interpretation of the old Mobil gas station logo, adding color and depth to the original emblem.
Mobil 350 as Part of Andy Warhol’s Larger Body of Work
Warhol’s beginnings as a product marketer heavily influenced his artistic career, in which he glamorized and transformed everyday objects into works of art. So in the 1980’s when Feldman Fine Arts commissioned Warhol to create his Ads series, Warhol was in his element. The portfolio consists of Mobil, Blackglama (Judy Garland), Paramount, Life Savers, Chanel, Rebel Without a Cause (James Dean), Van Heusen (Ronald Reagan), The New Spirit (Donald Duck), Volkswagen, and Apple. These images that make up Warhol’s Ads Series reflect Warhol’s fascination with American consumerism. The Ads suite epitomizes Warhol’s brand through his use of pop art to both celebrate and subtly criticize the ubiquitous nature of advertisement. The series takes commonplace, yet iconic advertisements and elevates them to the status of art. It is the essence of modern art’s theme: “I could do that, but I didn’t.” The full Ads suite includes FS II.350-360.
