Once the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art’s exhibition Warhol Out West is installed and opened to the general public, we will be examining in great detail the work of a Pop Art master. As we begin this assessment of one of the founding father’s of Pop Art, I would like for you to reflect on a response by Warhol to a question published in Art News in 1963-4. In your opinion, what do you think Warhol means in this response and is the artist’s answer applicable today 50 years later? “Those who talk about individuality most are the ones who most object to deviation, and in a few years it may be the other way around. Some day everybody will probably be thinking alike.”
Art and Honors BGFA 
Everyone, more or less, values their trait of being a different person than of those who are around them. They feel that by non conforming to societal standards they become unique and “the one” to stand out in the crowd. Personally, I believe that in the end, everybody conforms due to human nature. The Asch Conformity Experiment in 1951 is one of many psychological tests that help support my claim. Warhol is correct in the sense that those who “talk about individuality most” do end up conforming. However, as we may all end up dressing in like styles and eating in the same habits, we all value our own unique traits too much to end up on a level where we ALL think alike.
People strive to create a sense of their own originality and uniqueness to their work, but most of the time they resort to conforming to some degree to the set standards and themes of their concurrent time. This may be due to the intertextual references that may impact one’s work unintentionally. For instance, Blade Runner (1982) set a mark in science-fiction film history by establishing how a dystopian world should be constructed. This film, thus, has influenced future films to reference its work to create the dystopian setting. Although the film stands out as something original and very unique, one can see how it also “conforms to the mainstream society” when one examines older sci-fi films. The movie reflects the time period’s movement of technophobia and was greatly influenced by other films, such as Metropolis (1927).
One can also argue that the other direction is also possible in that someone who complies by his or her time period’s art movements can also create some kind of a unique signature to his or her work to become recognizable. It seems that what Warhol might be saying is that the relationship between striving for individuality and objecting to deviation is contradictory, yet it happens all the time in either direction. In addition, it may be true that this relationship will diminish into something where “everyone thinks alike,” but it is most likely that the pattern discussed above will stay as it is, because it is human nature to try to conform to the norm yet aim to be somewhat unique to be considered as one individual.
I think everyone tries to be an individual in some ways, but in the long run, people do conform to societal standards. People DO think alike to some degree, even though they may wear different clothing, hairstyles, etc., they still have conforming tendencies for certain things in their lives. Every once in a while, there is someone who “stands out in the crowd”, and some people do try to be unique, but for the majority, conforming to the norm is almost a daily routine.
I’m not sure what was the context that Warhol made this comment under. But, perhaps it was in regards to the controversy at the time over the legitimacy of his work. Warhol critics said that his work was not his individual work for various reasons. Verses Warhol’s view that his work was a new development or deviation from past concepts.
It is also interesting that many people who “deviate” or are different seem to gain a following. Eventually others are copying them, and soon they are no longer different. Rather, they become just one of the crowd.
Perhaps this is what leads to the second part of his statement, “in a few years it may be the other way around. Some day everybody will probably be thinking alike.”
As much as we strive to be individual, I feel that we are conditioned by the past and our present surroundings deterring true individuality. Anything that is unique and original is subject to replication and reinterpretation. This idea is what resonates to me through Warhol’s work. He took concepts and manufactured objects of popular culture and interpreted it into a graphic art visual. Ultimately, yes, we will conform and as far as today’s art is concerned, it reminds me of a statement made in 2008 by Chuck Close in W magazine about the against the grain art of Tara Donovan where he expressed “At this particular moment in the art world, invention and personal vision have been demoted in favor of appropriation, of raiding the cultural icebox. For somebody to go out and try to make something that doesn’t remind you of anybody else’s work and is really, truly innovative. To me, it represents a gutsy move.”
In my opinion, I believe that in this statement, Warhol discusses the limits of individuality. No matter how strongly one may want to be unique and original, constraints in the form of standards placed by their respective societies may act as a barrier to individuality. By being too different and deviating from societal norms, an individual risks being ostracized by their society. In order to be truly unique in society, the desire for individuality must exceed the fear of deviation. As society is always creating new standards to coincide with current times, the idea of the limits to individuality is still applicable today. Although each human being is unique in their own way, there is a point in which they will conform to societal standards. However, because there are always individuals that are not afraid of the consequences of breaking the societal contract, I believe that a time when everybody will be thinking alike is highly unlikely.
I think Warhol was saying that people who think they are individuals are the first to object to anything that was different from what they were doing. That doesn’t really make that person an individual if they can’t think outside of what they are doing. In the end, I think he believes that everyone will see things in the same way and that there really won’t be any true individuals in the future.
Artists of every generation complain that anything worthy of praise has already been done. They then take that complaint as their call to action, and set out to find an idea that people will recognize as innovative. In the process, many of them are labeled as deviant. In many cases, it’s the curse of an innovator that is ahead of their time. This has not changed, and most likely will never change. However, in Warhol’s case it’s ironic that he is best known for his reproductions of objects of mass culture (Campbell’s soup, Marilyn Monroe, and Brillo). On the surface, these objects are as non-threatening as they come. The sameness that he seems to be rebelling against becomes the subject of his work and in the end he also becomes an object of his generation.
”Those who talk about individuality most are the ones who most object to deviation, and in a few years it may be the other way around. Some day everybody will probably be thinking alike.”
Meaning? I think this means that some people are insecure with individuality, and to obtain it I think a person will hold on tight to it in a sense strangling it. The human condition is always tying to justify and control, therefore I think some people have an arrogance about them and must declare any objection to ever altering this state of individuality. I think if you are an individual one does not have to protest, just be.
I think in the long run we all seem to move together in similar mannerism and thinking. I can show you many a hippie living quiet comfortably in the suburbs with a SUV.
Is it applicable today? I think it is, I don’t think the human experience has really ever changed, it is baked into the DNA.
I agree with Andy Warhol’s first statement. Those who dedicate themselves to individuality often fail by conforming to a counter-culture. As Warhol prophesied, the dynamics of individuality and conformity have changed. In art, literature, and philosophy, those who cling to the classics have become a minority. Our culture seems to have an obsession with the modern and experimental. Poetic forms that were adhered to for hundreds of years are now seen as obsolete. Modern now dominates the dance world and ballet companies are striving to breathe new life into their repertoire. Intentionally working within the canon has become a sort of deviation. The second part of Warhol’s response is reminiscent of a quote from Oscar Wilde’s “De Profundis”: “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” I disagree with this assertion. Each generation sees the classics with new eyes and presents an interpretation unique to their knowledge and background. For example Waterhouse’s “Echo and Narcissus” is far different from Dali’s “Metamorphosis of Narcissus”. Artists respond to their environment. In order for everyone to think alike, the entire world, science, politics, religion, etc., would have to stop changing.
Everyone wants to feel special, like they’re different from everyone else. I think in the effort to become more of a unique individual, people become more and more alike. I guess this has something to do with being conditioned by society. The societal norms dictate what is original and different. So when people want to be different and unique, it is very difficult because they all have the same idea of what it means to be unique. It reminds me of the people in high school that would wear crazy clothes and get weird piercings and funky hair. Their excuse is that they are just trying to express their individuality when in reality they all look the same. They are trying too hard to be different, to deviate from everyone else. They are just conforming to each other. I also think of movies that come out and are instant hits. Most of them are remakes or the ideas are taken from a book. It annoys me that there are no new ideas out there. Everyone watches the same ideas for movies but with different characters or sceneries. Same crap over and over again. It’s sad because we never get tired of it! Thinking of all this makes me realize that this quote definitely makes sense. In a few years everyone will be thinking alike? Well, everyone already does think alike, and they will continue to do so.
Within the masses, there is a duplex urge to both express one’s self and to also fit in. These two paradoxical ideologies are paired in this quote by Andy Warhol. He is expressing the sense of partaking in a society who wants to be self-sufficient as well as self-defining, but in such a way to be accepted by the others within this society. Ultimately, ‘those who talk about individuality’ have decided that to be acceptable one must be an ‘individual,’ thus turning what would seem to be the minority into the standard. Since everyone is trying, in much the same way as others, to be ‘individualistic,’ they end up fitting in with each other. So Warhol brings up the issue that these people rarely deviate from this predetermined path. Any true deviation from this standard would oust any person seeking a real independence from the common people. And it is these common people who Warhol is speaking about. The want, or even need, to fit in is in innate to the human kind. Slowly but surely, this is becoming the way of the masses and it is this way of thinking that is being called out in this excerpt. Being an ‘individual’ is becoming the common way to be, ultimately crippling minds to think alike in such a way. This contractible though viable thought is a prediction to, in some senses, the end of mankind in ways. Creativity will come from those so far apart from society that benefits of this way of thinking will be unreachable.
Warhol has rather predicted the way that society has seemed to shift from an individuality as each person has his/her own unique opinion to one where it seems that in order to fit into society you must conform. I find that many of those that are around me seem to want to agree with what I am doing, or would rather have validation from their peers before actually doing something. This is easily seen in Facebook where you can write any question and have people respond easily to what you are asking. This is the unfortunate thing that I think Warhol was trying to dissuade us from following. Instead of just conforming to what everyone is doing, or asking everyone’s opinion on your own actions, just simply do them and then reflect on the experience of doing it. This is the human experience, and each one of our experiences will be unique to us, so why follow someone else’ path. Follow your own path.
Individuality is a rather difficult thing to achieve, because it succumbs to a greater society by nature. If everyone is an individual, then no one is truly unique. Individuality, by most means, must be recognized, and in turn, accepted. We only tend to view “accepted” types of individuality, and those end up becoming groups. The groupthink that Warhol is alluding to has surely taken some interesting turns in the past 50 years. In his day, individuals were targeted – easy meat for scrutiny. Now, we are told to break free from “the mold” (what is that mold, anyway? surely it was unique and individual at some point…) and stand out. As the focus has now become on being recognized for individual qualities, one could argue that Warhol was correct then, and now. Perhaps in the 1960s, “everybody” had one mindset, and Warhol was one of a new group attempting to think differently. Now, “everybody” wants to think differently, but in their goals, they have begun to think alike.
I think that Andy Warhol meant is that everybody is different in their own ways. But on a everyday basis, we use the same things. For example, the campbell soup cans painting, we all have our preferences…but yet we all eat the same style of soup. So in a way we are different but rely on the same object to get a almost similar outcomes making us some how the same
”Those who talk about individuality most are the ones who most object to deviation, and in a few years it may be the other way around. Some day everybody will probably be thinking alike.”
I believe our perception of individuality and that of conforming will determine how these words affect us. I do think to a point that Warhol is correct, when one worries solely with being unique and forming an individual persona that person will watch the moves and motives of others to do the opposite for the sole purpose of becoming unique. By doing this, we either form to their habits because as humans we are creatures of habit, or we do the exact opposite. The problem with doing the opposite of others, is that everyone is trying to do the offset trend and be an individual, this we all become what we were trying to avoid. I do find the thoughts of everyone merging into one, though our thoughts may be different, we think alike in time and space. It’s inevitable.