Pelé 1977

Here we have Andy Warhol’s "Pelé," and what strikes me is how he uses colour to flatten the image, making it feel iconic. The teal smears around the soccer ball—it’s almost like he’s suggesting movement, but with this very artificial, screen-printed kind of touch. I’m really drawn to the way the paint feels both present and absent. You can see the strokes, the layering, but then the photographic image of Pelé is so crisp, so defined. It’s like two different worlds colliding on one surface. The way Warhol crops the image, putting Pelé off-center with that ball hovering – it gives you this feeling of anticipation. He's just about to do something amazing, and Warhol captures that energy so well. It makes me think of other artists like Elizabeth Peyton, who also capture the charisma of celebrity through a kind of dreamy, almost unreal lens. There's this sense of wanting to get close, but also knowing there’s always a distance.