Self-Portrait with Fright Wig 1986

Andy Warhol made this small polaroid photograph of himself, sometime before he died in 1987. He's wearing a fright wig – his own hair having long receded – and is staring right back at us. I can imagine Andy setting up the shot, carefully positioning himself in front of the lens, maybe adjusting the wig just so. He understood the power of an image, of controlling his own narrative. It makes me think about the mask we all wear, how we perform for the world, and how Andy took that performance to another level. His face is pale, almost ghostly, against the dark background. The stark contrast reminds me of some of his screenprints, where he played with repetition and flatness. Even in this simple photograph, he's pushing the boundaries of portraiture, questioning authenticity and identity. He’s in conversation with artists like Cindy Sherman who also used photography to create their own personas. I love how he embraced ambiguity, leaving us to wonder: who is the real Andy Warhol?