Double Mickey Mouse 1981

Andy Warhol gave us this “Double Mickey Mouse”, and I can only imagine it was made with layers of squeegeed silkscreen ink. I picture the process like a dance, balancing control with chance as colors bleed and overlap. Those graphic black outlines, the sunny yellows, and bold reds—they’re not just colors; they're feelings, right? I imagine Warhol, ever the observer, thinking about the cultural weight of Mickey Mouse, the way an image can become an icon, flattened and repeated until it's both everywhere and nowhere. Think of how one little gesture, the curve of Mickey’s smile, can communicate so much, instantly recognizable across borders and generations. It reminds me of Lichtenstein, too—how both artists took what was “low” and made it undeniably “high.” It makes you wonder, who is influencing who, in this long game of art?