Paintings for Children 1983

This is one of Andy Warhol's "Paintings for Children" and it's basically a large, screen-printed robot in reds, pinks, yellows, and blues. I’m thinking about how it must have felt for Warhol to set up the screen, pull the ink, and see the image come to life, layer by layer. The red backdrop feels flat, almost like a stage, while the robot is built from blocks of color, giving it a playful, toy-like quality. There is a softness about it, it has a certain tenderness that seems to come through the layering of color and the slightly misaligned screen print, as if Warhol was searching for the most empathetic way to depict artificial intelligence. I wonder if he thought about robots as the new children. Warhol was always looking at the world with fresh eyes, riffing on pop culture in his own way, and inspiring so many artists to follow. It's like he's saying, "Hey, let's not take ourselves too seriously, let’s play!"