ABSTRACT
Andy Warhol’s art is famously ambiguous, allowing us to understand his work either as an ironic criticism of consumerism or as a sincere embrace of popular culture. When we consider his religious art, the interpretive difficulties only intensify. His paintings and prints that have overtly religious content intermingle the sacred with the profane, making us wonder whether we should regard them as blasphemy or a very peculiar sort of piety. Recent art-historical work has drawn increased attention to Warhol’s own religious commitments, but how do we square these with his mixture of devotion and advertising? One of the best-known paintings of his Last Supper series, for example, overlays the General Electric logo, the Dove soap logo, and a 59 cent price tag over Warhol’s outlined version of the Leonardo masterpiece. This chapter discusses Warhol’s religious art in light of recent methodological developments in the academic study of religion. This methodology is designated as the study of ‘lived religion,’ and scholars who speak about lived religion emphasize the way that religious practices are typically inextricably immersed in the activities of everyday life. This chapter proposes that Warhol’s religious art is itself the promotion of a similar understanding of religion.
