Influence - Andy Warhol

All Warhol images from National Gallery of Australia.

I am so fascinated by Warhol's depiction of Chairman Mao, that I will devote an entire post to it later. Warhol was the first to fully understand iconography. Perhaps even more fascinating was his depiction of no ordinary soup can. A challenging icon indeed - the electric chair.

I first saw these prints in a decorating magazine, and didn't realize what they were. I was lured in for a closer examination by the beautiful colors. Once my attention was undivided and the image came into my consciousness, I was shocked. Perhaps that was the intent. There can be no right or wrong way to express the horror of something that should be incomprehensible. To be subtely drawn in is genius.

I contemplated these images once while staring at my beloved, ever-changing Lake Erie Sky. That sky has inspired so many of my paintings. These prints are not unlike the color of the sky.

Sometimes my paintings are political. Here are the paintings inspired by Andy's Electric Chair and the Lake Erie Sky. They are outright thievery. I think he'd approve.

Sans Electric Chair, 2005. 15" x 20" each piece, acrylic on paper.