Unidentified Man 1972

This is an instant photograph of an unidentified man by Andy Warhol. It's a small, intimate, and a little bit mysterious. I love how Warhol captures this guy in a moment of genuine laughter. You can almost hear the sound of it, right? The dark green background is pretty standard for a lot of portrait photography. But in this picture it feels like a void out of which the sitter emerges. Warhol was always snapping shots like this, wasn't he? Collecting faces, documenting moments. It's like he's saying, "Everyone is interesting; everyone has a story." It makes you wonder about the guy in the photo, doesn't it? Who was he? What was so funny? But maybe the point is we don't need to know. Warhol is reminding us that everyone is a star, and that instant photographs, like paintings, can also be portraits.