Sunday Rerun: All I know about art is what I like

 Andy Warhol, American artist born Andrew Warhola (1928 - 1987) was a leading figure in the art world, specifically, pop art, which he "pop"ularized in the 60s with his "Campbell's Soup Cans," a collection of 32 superrealistic pictures of various cans of soup.

Even as a teenager at the time, soon to be employed in the field of stamping prices on cans of soup at the A&P, I knew great art when I saw it. He followed that with a picture of many pictures of Marilyn Monroe, and reproduced the cardboard boxes in which Brillo pads were shipped to the A&P.


I brought one of the real Brillo boxes home from the A&P, after first stamping a price in purple on the boxes within. I kept socks in it for years.

My thoughts turned to Warhol the other day when a commercial for Burger King appeared on the Super Bowl. Burger King got the rights to the pop art movie "Andy Warhol Eating a Hamburger," which was one of the 66 scenes in director JØrgen Leth's 1982 film "66 Scenes from America."

"I still remember the first time I watched the complete length of the film of Andy Warhol eating a Burger King Whopper, and my head exploded," Fernando Machado, Burger King's global chief marketing officer told Ad Week magazine. "I was like, 'Is that really Andy Warhol; why is he eating that? What's happening there?'"

Here's what was happening there. Leth is an immigrant, a Dane, who says that he sees the hamburger as the "great social equalizer in America. People, regardless of their socio-economic status, can enjoy them."

When he wasn't busy duplicating the art of others, Warhol was known for saying witty and wise things, and one of them is worth thinking about:

"A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too." 

That's the point of the American homogenization that's been going on for years. The point of Burger King, and all other fast food chains, is that a Whopper is prepared the same and will taste the same in New York City or Kankakee.

And just think, if you eat burgers, you're eating just like the president of the United States and the championship college football team. 

And for those asking what the point of the commercial was, there you have it.