10 Facts About Andy Warhol's Trucks

Created in 1985, the Trucks print series is Andy Warhol's vibrant foray into the mundanity of the everyday. Created in his signature Pop Art style, the series is experimental and toys with tradition.

This series was published to commemorate the anniversary of a transport union.

Truck © Andy Warhol, 1985

Published in 1985 in conjunction with the Federal Association of German Long-Distance Goods Transport to commemorate the 20th World Congress of International Road Transportation Union, the portfolio consists of four prints.

The International Road Transportation Union still exists today.

Truck © Andy Warhol, 1985

The International Road Transportation Union, that this series is so closely associated with, still exists today. It works on soltions for mass trasnportation in the EU that are focused on the enviroment and economy.

Warhol co-published this series was an art dealer from Germany.

Truck © Andy Warhol, 1985

Warhol co-published Trucks with Hermann Wünsche, a German art dealer who served as an early advocate for Warhol’s work in Germany.

Warhol frames the Truck as a romantic figure of the 20th century.

Truck © Andy Warhol, 1985

With long distance journeys across mountain ranges, deserts and forests, the long distance truck driver became somewhat of a romantic figure in 20th century America, the lonesome drives becoming associated with the arduous journeys of cowboys on horseback during the conquest of the West.

This series is another example of Warhol’s bringing together of high and low art.

Truck © Andy Warhol, 1985

Here Warhol has taken the symbol of the truck and raised it to the level of both kitsch and ‘high art’, as he did with many household objects – such as his Campbell's Soup Cans and Brillo Boxes – in his practice of taking the everyday and asking you to look again at objects that usually go unnoticed.

As with many of Warhol’s works, the method of screen printing fits the subject matter.

Flowers © Andy Warhol, 1964

In the Truck series, the medium, as with many of Warhol’s works, fits the message; screen printing was traditionally the process of choice for commercial printers and here Warhol demonstrates his canny ability to reclaim it for his own celebration of the world of commerce.

Warhol’s love of screen printing was part of his aim to democratise art.

Campbell's Soup © Andy Warhol, 1962

Warhol enjoyed the irregularity of the screen printing method, describing it as “quick and chancy … you get the same image, slightly different each time” as well as the accessibility of creating multiples rather than unique artworks which are only owned and appreciated by a small art world elite. Instead, with works such as Truck, he was able to bring his work to a wide audience, appealing to the collective nostalgia for being ‘on the road’.

The Truck series was produced in four colour ways.

The complete Truck portfolio consists of four screen prints on Lenox Museum Board, with five numbered in Roman numerals and 73 unumbered individual TPs outside of the potfolios.