Andy Warhol finds a friend in 1985: The Amiga
Commodore International planned a theatrical performance for the 1985 introduction of the Amiga 1000 home computer. The July 1985 event at Lincoln Center included Warhol and Debbie Harry, the rock ‘n’ roll legend and lead vocalist of the band Blondie. In front of a big crowd, Andy Warhol “painted” a portrait of Debbie Harry with the new program ProPaint. He became a Commodore brand ambassador. Later, he used the Amiga to make a series of digital drawings, including a crude Campbell’s Soup Can, Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus with a third eye, and some very red flowers. Warhol wished to print and distribute these images as artworks, but this dream never cam true. The data was retrieved from a floppy disk by reverse engineering the original software in 2014. Warhol’s creative embrace of modern technology is exemplified by a film of his launch performance and his computer-based artworks. The film is available online as well as in the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
