Alphabet Soup, A Bold Fusion of Pop Art Homage and Contemporary Activism

In the history of modern art, few images are as recognisable as Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans. Painted in 1962, they represented a turning point in the way we think about culture, branding, and art itself. In 2025, Australian artist Haydn Englander-Porter revisits this legacy with his own 32-piece series, each reimagining the soup can with surrealist and symbolic twists. Among these works, Alphabet Soup stands out as a vibrant, commanding piece that embodies both homage and reinvention.

Recently sold, Alphabet Soup is more than a painting. It is a statement about language, inclusivity, community, and hope. Through its bold composition, dazzling colour, and rich symbolism, the work transforms a consumer object into a beacon of cultural pride and progress.

Describing Alphabet Soup

The painting itself is visually striking. At its heart, a vivid pink flamingo takes centre stage, soaring through a surreal forest of stark blues and vivid yellows. Clutched tightly in its talons is a Campbell’s can, not Cream of Mushroom, not Tomato, but the unmistakable Alphabet Soup.

Behind the flamingo, the canvas bursts into life with an explosion of colour. Pinks, yellows, blues, and oranges erupt across a pure white background. This storm of pigment feels less like chaos and more like release: a visual outpouring of voices, identities, and ideas spilling into the world.

The symbolism here is immediate. Alphabet soup isn’t just letters in broth. It becomes, in Englander-Porter’s hands, the language of change, the way communities shape the future through words, ideas, and inclusion.

Measuring 202cm by 101cm, and executed in a dynamic blend of oils and acrylics on canvas, the work commands presence both in physical size and in meaning.

Explore Englander Porter Art’s collection here.

The Flamingo as a Symbol

Why a flamingo? Known for their elegance and striking pink colour, flamingos are also symbols of resilience and balance. They thrive in challenging environments, often serving as metaphors for resilience amid adversity.

In LGBTQ+ symbolism, flamingos have long been embraced as emblems of pride and individuality. By using a flamingo to carry the can, Englander-Porter infuses the painting with themes of identity, resilience, and unapologetic visibility.

The bird becomes not just a carrier of soup but a carrier of meaning, moving forward, soaring upward, refusing to be contained. It carries community, language, and cultural diversity into new spaces.

The Explosion of Colour

Behind the flamingo, the painting erupts in colour. This is not a gentle backdrop but a storm, a visual declaration of creativity and activism.

Where Warhol’s soup cans were flat and uniform, Alphabet Soup is alive with dynamism. The contrast between the pure white background and the unleashed spectrum suggests that language and diversity cannot be boxed or silenced. They burst outward, filling space with energy.

This visual outpouring mirrors the inclusiveness of the modern world: voices once marginalised now rise, cultures intersect, and new identities proudly claim visibility. The painting becomes a metaphor for global dialogue, where everyone has a voice in the chorus.

Alphabet Soup as Language

The metaphor of alphabet soup is deceptively simple. At its most literal, it is a bowl of broth with pasta shaped like letters. For children, it is often a playful way to learn language. For adults, the term has become shorthand for confusion, an “alphabet soup” of acronyms or jargon.

In Alphabet Soup, Englander-Porter takes this everyday idea and elevates it to the level of cultural metaphor. The soup becomes not just a food but the language of inclusivity. Every letter matters, every word contributes, and every voice has a place in shaping meaning.

This is why the painting resonates so strongly. It invites us to see ourselves within the letters, within the soup, within the community it represents.

Pop Art Homage, Contemporary Twist

The link to Warhol’s 1962 series is deliberate. Warhol’s 32 soup cans questioned the line between consumerism and art. They celebrated the ordinary and forced us to see branding as a cultural object.

Englander-Porter’s 32 soup paintings echo this lineage but extend it into new territory. While Warhol’s cans were static, repetitive, and ironic, Englander-Porter’s are dynamic, symbolic, and deeply narrative. Each can in the series becomes part of a surrealist story.

In Alphabet Soup, the homage is clear, the Campbell’s label remains, but so too is the activism. This is not just consumer commentary; it is a statement about movement, diversity, and inclusiveness. Where Warhol flattened meaning, Englander-Porter expands it.

Technique and Materials

Executed with oils and acrylics on canvas, the work is technically masterful. The flamingo is rendered with vivid realism, its feathers layered in bold pinks against the cooler tones of the forest. The soup can, painted with precision, maintains its instantly recognisable branding, anchoring the surrealism in cultural familiarity.

The abstract explosion of colour showcases Englander-Porter’s skill in blending media. Acrylics bring vibrancy and speed to the brushstrokes, while oils provide depth and richness. The size of the canvas, over two metres wide, allows the energy to fully unfold, making the viewer feel enveloped by the scene.

A Work of Contemporary Activism

Beyond its visual impact, Alphabet Soup is a form of activism on canvas. It stands for diversity, community, and inclusiveness, urging viewers to recognise the countless individuals shaping the world. The flamingo carries more than a can; it carries the voices of those demanding change, the resilience of those standing tall, and the colour of cultures that refuse to be silenced.

In this sense, the painting feels especially relevant to 2025. At a time when global conversations about identity, inclusion, and belonging are more urgent than ever, Alphabet Soup embodies art’s ability to both reflect and drive cultural progress.

Reception and Sale

That Alphabet Soup sold quickly is hardly surprising. Collectors are increasingly drawn to art that not only decorates but also challenges and inspires. The combination of technical mastery, vibrant imagery, and powerful symbolism makes this painting a compelling acquisition.

For its new owner, it will serve not just as a decorative piece, but as a statement —an artwork that sparks conversation, provokes thought, and affirms the values of diversity and community.

Place in the Soup Can Series

As part of the 32-piece soup series, Alphabet Soup holds a special role. Its focus on language and inclusivity gives it a broad, universal resonance.

Other works in the series, such as "The Search" with its barn owl, or "Black Crow, Cream of Mushroom," explore themes of survival, instinct, and consumerism. Together, the series becomes a multifaceted reimagining of Warhol’s legacy, with each painting offering a unique perspective.

Owning a piece from this series is like holding a fragment of a cultural dialogue, one that connects past and present, consumerism and activism, nostalgia and hope.

Contemporary Australian Art

Haydn Englander-Porter is part of a vibrant Australian art scene where local perspectives intersect with global themes. His soup series positions him within a lineage of artists engaging with pop culture while speaking to uniquely modern concerns.

In an era when Australian artists are gaining international recognition, works like Alphabet Soup showcase the strength of this voice. They demonstrate how Australian painters can reinterpret global icons with originality, insight, and cultural relevance.

Alphabet Soup is a painting that refuses to be contained. It bursts outward in colour, in meaning, and in symbolism. Through its soaring flamingo, iconic soup can, and explosion of pigment, it carries a message of inclusivity, resilience, and hope.

It is at once an homage to Warhol and a bold step beyond him, a modern reinvention that transforms consumerism into activism. By turning alphabet soup into the language of change, Haydn Englander-Porter reminds us that art is not just about looking, but about listening, learning, and speaking together.

For those inspired by this sold work, the journey doesn’t end here. Explore the broader collection of soup can paintings and discover the pieces still available in the Englander Porter Art collection.