andy warhol

Andy Warhol, Self Portrait No. 9 1986 (acrylic and screenprint on canvas)
© The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

Andy Warhol, Debbie Harry 1980 (acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen)

Andy Warhol, Skull 1976 (acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen).
© The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

While I was on holiday I visited the Andy Warhol exhibition at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art. There is something completely captivating about his images. I'd loved to know what people thought of them when they first came out because they're so embedded in our cultural history now that it's hard to separate the man from the work. In some regards they're quite simplistic and incredibly commercial (hence, why they were so successful and made him so much money during his lifetime - rare for an artist) but in other ways they still are on the money. Take, for instance, the skull (pictured above). Skulls are everywhere right now. Certainly, he had his finger on the pulse of modern society - that's one clever man.

Images courtesy of GOMA and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.