About The Work
Andy Warhol began using the big-shot Polaroid camera in 1971 and continued using it religiously until his death in 1987. Despite the camera being discontinued in 1973, he continued to use it to capture the actors, artists, dancers, politicians, socialites, and Factory members of his world.
Frequently, Warhol's Polaroids were used as preparatory works for his iconic silkscreen portraits or other artworks. They also revealed his immediate personal vision functioning as a chronicle of his surroundings and social life.
This image was likely created in the late 1970s. In 1977, Warhol began work on two new sexually-charged bodies of work, Torsos and Sex Parts. These two series are regarded as Warhol's most daring, arguably the most explicit gay work in his oeuvre. While this image by itself is playful and sexy - without being graphic, it deserves to be put in context with the other overtly gay image-making that Warhol was pursuing at this moment.
It is worth mentioning that this comes from the era when Robert Mapplethorpe begins to create and exhibit photographs that document underground gay culture and sexuality...and without a doubt, Warhol was influenced by his courage and audacity. Yet simultaneously, Warhol had a number of commissions from a variety of consumer products creating advertisements for everything from Perrier to Halston Cosmetics to major label record covers. Was Levis a client...or was Warhol celebrating the unofficial uniform of gay men in the era?
About Andy Warhol
From The Magazine
- Interviews & Features: David Hockney – ‘I realized I was painting my best friends. The subject wasn’t dogs but my love of the little creatures.’
- Interviews & Features: Harland Miller: 'I've always loved high and low culture. This painting perfectly encapsulates both, more than any painting I've made.'
- Interviews & Features: Seven winning works of sports art
- Interviews & Features: Bill Claps - ‘I hope the images make people feel the power of nature, and help them realize we are a small part of it, not the center’
- Interviews & Features: The Artspace Art for Life Interview with John Pawson
Photograph
Polaroid print
4.25 x 3.50 in
10.8 x 8.9 cm
This work is stamped on verso by the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board, Inc. | Numbered H307251E
About The Work
Andy Warhol began using the big-shot Polaroid camera in 1971 and continued using it religiously until his death in 1987. Despite the camera being discontinued in 1973, he continued to use it to capture the actors, artists, dancers, politicians, socialites, and Factory members of his world.
Frequently, Warhol's Polaroids were used as preparatory works for his iconic silkscreen portraits or other artworks. They also revealed his immediate personal vision functioning as a chronicle of his surroundings and social life.
This image was likely created in the late 1970s. In 1977, Warhol began work on two new sexually-charged bodies of work, Torsos and Sex Parts. These two series are regarded as Warhol's most daring, arguably the most explicit gay work in his oeuvre. While this image by itself is playful and sexy - without being graphic, it deserves to be put in context with the other overtly gay image-making that Warhol was pursuing at this moment.
It is worth mentioning that this comes from the era when Robert Mapplethorpe begins to create and exhibit photographs that document underground gay culture and sexuality...and without a doubt, Warhol was influenced by his courage and audacity. Yet simultaneously, Warhol had a number of commissions from a variety of consumer products creating advertisements for everything from Perrier to Halston Cosmetics to major label record covers. Was Levis a client...or was Warhol celebrating the unofficial uniform of gay men in the era?
About Andy Warhol
From The Magazine
- Interviews & Features: David Hockney – ‘I realized I was painting my best friends. The subject wasn’t dogs but my love of the little creatures.’
- Interviews & Features: Harland Miller: 'I've always loved high and low culture. This painting perfectly encapsulates both, more than any painting I've made.'
- Interviews & Features: Seven winning works of sports art
- Interviews & Features: Bill Claps - ‘I hope the images make people feel the power of nature, and help them realize we are a small part of it, not the center’
- Interviews & Features: The Artspace Art for Life Interview with John Pawson
- Ships in 5 to 7 business days from Canada.
- This work is final sale and not eligible for return.
- Questions about this work?
- Interested in other works by this artist or other artists? We will source them for you.
- Want to pay in installments?
Contact an Artspace Advisor
advisor@artspace.com