Joan Robbins 1984

Andy Warhol made this screenprint, Joan Robbins, and well, it's all about the process, isn't it? There’s something very playful about the way Warhol handles color here. That bright background, the matching hair, and then those popping eyes and lips. You can almost see the squeegee marks in the blocky planes of color, it's so thin. It’s not trying to hide its nature. It’s there for you, a record of its making. What strikes me is the way that the turquoise eyeshadow emphasizes the artificiality of the image. Is it camp? Is it critique? Is it something in between? Hard to say! Warhol was, of course, obsessed with celebrity and consumer culture. And I think he got the last laugh. You know, art doesn't have to resolve into one fixed point, right? That ambiguity is part of what keeps us looking, thinking, questioning. And lets us see the world anew.