Unidentified Man n.d.

Editor: Here we have an undated, gelatin-silver print by Andy Warhol, called "Unidentified Man." It's a grainy black and white photograph. My eye keeps being drawn to the ski resting on the table. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I notice immediately the almost accidental composition. It's raw, immediate. Look how the ski intrudes into the space; the 'ROSSIGNOL' brand asserts itself, becoming almost a signature, or a signifier. It shares a graphic boldness with Warhol's pop art screenprints. The man himself, head bowed, absorbed in filling out forms – what meaning do these actions, repeated countless times, take on? Editor: It’s strange seeing a celebrity like Warhol take a seemingly mundane shot. What do the skis symbolize? Curator: Consider the cultural memory embedded in that ski brand. Rossignol represents not just recreation, but a lifestyle, a certain aspirational class. And here it sits amidst the mundane task of paperwork. Warhol was keenly aware of brands and the signals they project. He's reminding us that even in leisure, labour and obligation are present. Do you see a kind of contrast? Editor: Absolutely, there's the glamour of the ski slopes right next to these forms and the anonymous "Unidentified Man" filling them out. There's also something about how fleeting fame is, since no one recognizes Warhol enough to interrupt him for taking the photograph. Curator: Precisely. And that anonymity, it's a deliberate commentary, isn't it? The Unidentified Man performing his tasks while an artist observes, documents and shares to tell many untold stories about how people spend their time on and off ski hills. Perhaps fame lies not in being recognized, but in the universality of shared moments. What do you make of that idea? Editor: That's a good point. Warhol captures the idea of fame by observing these mundane symbols. Thank you.