Tate Modern - Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol (Room 10)


In these works from the 1970s and 1980s Andy Warhol explores images of violence, power and mortality.
This display of work by Andy Warhol forms part of a collection of international contemporary art jointly owned by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. It is known as ARTIST ROOMS and focuses on individual rooms devoted to particular artists.
The imposing row of canvases that make up Camouflage presents the paradox of a means of disguise and that is also an instantly recognisable military motif. Before beginning this series, Warhol reportedly asked, ‘What can I do that would be abstract but not really abstract?’ The answer came in this vivid reworking, which removes the concealing function of the pattern and displays a surprising affinity with Abstract Expressionism. But instead of a gestural painting style, he used his characteristic silkscreen technique, where the personal touch of the artist’s hand seems completely absent.
Other works in this room combine silkscreened reproductions of photographs with more painterly application of colour. In many cases the source images are imperfectly reproduced, interrupted either by smears of silkscreen ink or by whorls of hand-applied acrylic paint. These touches suggest that the image itself is susceptible to change and disintegration, introducing elements of transience and instability.
Warhol’s concern with the fragility of the human body is evident in his choice of subjects. In typically evasive manner, however, Warhol denied his preoccupation with death, saying, ‘I don’t believe in it, because you’re not around to know that it’s happened.’
Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was born in Pittsburgh. He lived and worked in New York.

I chose to use this image by Andy Warhol as inspiration for my presentation of my work as a final piece in an exhibition, i like the idea of having a repeated image but with different colours, the colours would add a sense of happiness in the photographs though which I do not want to use. So maybe different shades of deep warm colours like green, brown, grey. Earth colours to accentuate the grit.