Volkswagen 358 is a famous screenprint from Andy Warhol’s 1985 Ads series and features an advertisement for the Volkswagen Beetle car that had been originally created by Doyle Dane Bernbach in the 1960s. In the middle of New York’s newly developed world of advertisement and Detroit’s production for the classic American car, this print ad was unlike anything the average American had ever seen and unlike any car the average American was accustomed to driving, the VW Beetle. In this present work, Andy Warhol has made use of an object from everyday life and elevated it to high art.
With its vibrant green against a dark purple background, the present work emphasizes the iconism of the advertisement as well as the car itself. In his ads series Warhol explored how these widely recognized logos and trademarks have become almost symbolic to the American consumer.They further serve as a form of advertisement for Warhol’s oeuvre themselves, obviously recognizing the commercial nature of Americas Society and driving consumerism to continue buying these iconic imagery that will forever lead them with an exciting and new product.
“The mythology of America is celebrity, the gods and demigods are those who can sell through their mass-produced images, and the course of action we, as a culture, are called to is to consume. These [works] record an American culture transformed from hero-to-celebrity worship and the role of cultural icon as celebrity, a commodity, and a piece of commercial art that sells.”