My favorite painting is one of the silkscreen self-portraits done by Andy Warhol in 1986, interesting titled, of course, Self-Portrait. It’s my favorite because it came from the time period right before he died and he was moving away from some of his pop art labels. Also, on a more ridiculous note, it reminds me of the character Goku from the cartoon show Dragon Ball Z. When I was younger I would attend art camp every summer at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Texas and this painting is hung at the top of the staircase leading to all their exhibits, so as a child just getting into the world of art, seeing this painting first thing was an enormous impression on my idea of art and what I enjoy. This painting was the first painting that got me obsessed with Andy Warhol and led to a mass spending spree on books, posters, and prints by and inspired by him and has also led to my entire family being interested in his artwork and life as well. Related to our Horowitz reading; many of the people I take to see this painting say they are caught up in the darkness of the painting, and that it seems that the only light is coming from an external source that no one can see. The only example of light in this painting is the shadows over his face. The composition of the painting draws my focus to the eyes and how they seem to lack feeling and even physically, they are missing all the shadows and detail that the other parts of his face show. Andy is shown very close up and as the only subject of the piece; there is no background and no detail around him similar to most of his portraits to keep the focus on the person. For the surface pattern, Andy’s hair is the offsetting part of the painting; it’s wild, unbalanced, and asymmetrical. Because he takes up most of the canvas the painting feels intense and crowded. The rhythm is sporadic and made of sharp lines. The space seems to be randomly taken up by bits and pieces of himself that he has spread out, and the only depth in the picture is he made by the shadows of a light source no one can see.
