Jon Gould 1980 - 1985

This is a photograph of Jon Gould, made by Andy Warhol sometime before 1987. It has a silvery quality, like so many of Warhol’s images. The texture feels soft; the mid-tones blending together. You can almost smell the ocean, or the chemicals used to develop the photo. The beauty here isn't so much about the subject alone, but also in the act of capturing a moment. Notice the way the light hits the man’s torso, and the shadows around his legs. Warhol's genius often lies in his ability to find the extraordinary in the ordinary. It’s like the everyday world, but slightly heightened, like a memory. Warhol, like many artists, was deeply engaged with the work of his predecessors, and I can see a lineage going all the way back to classical sculpture. But he took it somewhere new. Like all great art, it embraces ambiguity, and it’s open to interpretation.