Shadows I #6 1979

Andy Warhol made this ‘Shadows I #6’ sometime between 1978 and 1979, and like all his work, it’s a product of process. The way he laid down these blocks of red and dark grey, right up against each other, creates a space that feels both immediate and infinite. Up close, you can see the physicality of the paint, the way the colors sit on the surface. That red, it’s so unapologetically bright, almost like a scream, while the dark grey has this scumbled texture, like a shadow trying to hide. The edge where they meet, it’s not a clean line, but a fuzzy, messy zone, almost like the moment when day turns into night. There's a tension there, a kind of push and pull between the two colors. When I see this piece, I think of Robert Motherwell, particularly his ‘Elegies to the Spanish Republic’. Both artists are working with these basic shapes, these emotional colors, but they’re doing it in a way that feels so raw and personal. It reminds me that art is always a conversation, a back-and-forth between artists, ideas, and feelings.