Existing comment:
Andy Warhol, 1928-1987
Created for Andy Warhol's 1966 exhibition at Leo Castelli Gallery, where he spoke of his (supposed) retirement from painting, this self-portrait -- an offset lithograph based on a photograph by an unknown maker -- pictures the artist with his face deeply in shadow. The print's mechanical appearance and manufacture further disguises evidence of the artist. Warhol has even relegated his signature to the back of the work, rendering it invisible to most viewers. Implicit in the metallic silver background, which recalls Warhol's famous pronouncement, "I want to be a machine," are references to his studio, known as the Factory; the cinema, appropriate given Warhol's experimentation with filmmaking; and religious icons, as Warhol had recently been dubbed "Saint Andrew" in the press.
1966 |