Andy Warhol born Andrew Warhola; August 6, 1928 - February 22, 1987) was an American artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, advertising, and celebrity culture that flourished by the 1960s, and span a variety of media, including painting, silkscreening, photography, film, and sculpture. Some of his best known works include the silkscreen paintings Campbell's Soup Cans (1962) and Marilyn Diptych (1962), the experimental films Empire (1964) and Chelsea Girls (1966), and the multimedia events known as the Exploding Plastic Inevitable (1966–67). Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Warhol initially pursued a successful career as a commercial illustrator. After exhibiting his work in several galleries in the late 1950s, he began to receive recognition as an influential and controversial artist. His New York studio, The Factory, became a well-known gathering place that brought together distinguished intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights, Bohemian street people, Hollywood celebrities, and wealthy patrons. He promoted a collection of personalities known as Warhol Superstars, and is credited with inspiring the widely used expression “15 minutes of fame”. In the late 1960s he managed and produced the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground and founded Interview magazine. He authored numerous books, including The Philosophy of Andy Warhol and Popism: The Warhol Sixties. He lived openly as a gay man before the gay liberation movement. During a meeting during at a NY Trade Show, Mr. Warhol and Adrian, ACME’s Creative Director, discussed putting a project together that both were very excited about. However, after gallbladder surgery, Warhol died of cardiac arrhythmia in February 1987 at the age of 58. The project later proceeded and licensed by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Adrian later introduced the Warhol Foundation to The Campbell’s Soup Co., which he could not believe did not know each other. This resulted in an ACME Warhol/Campbell’s large selection of products, which was the first collection ever using both properties. The Warhol/Campbell’s relationship persists until today.