Society Portrait of Susie 1981

Andy Warhol created this portrait, Society Portrait of Susie, with screen printing, which is like painting with a very graphic sensibility. The colors are so flat, it’s like he’s saying, “Here are the ingredients of a person: skin color, hair color, lip color.” It’s a fascinating way to think about portraiture because it reduces everything to these basic, almost cartoonish shapes. Look at the black lines around the eyes—they're so definitive, so bold. The flat planes of color create an emotional distance; it’s as if Susie is both there and not there, present and absent. Warhol's work always makes me think about Sigmar Polke, who also played with pop imagery and printing techniques, but in a much messier, more chaotic way. Both artists were trying to capture something about the modern world, but they approached it from very different angles. Art, like life, is just endless conversation.