Joe Kennedy 1986

This small polaroid of Joe Kennedy was made by Andy Warhol sometime during his career. It features a smiling portrait of Kennedy against an off-white background. I love the speed and immediacy of polaroid. You get a sense of the artist capturing a fleeting moment, maybe trying to record something quickly before it disappears. It's like Warhol is saying, "Wait, stay right there," freezing Kennedy in time. I wonder what it was like to be photographed by Warhol. Did Joe feel like he was just another can of soup, or was there a connection, a real human exchange? Probably a bit of both, if I know Andy. It makes me think about the whole idea of celebrity and how Warhol turned it into something both glamorous and a bit empty, like a shiny surface with nothing behind it. Anyway, artists are always riffing off each other, playing with ideas, so here's to keeping the conversation going, one artwork at a time.