The Ghost of Andy Warhol – “Oil on Canvas”

Description

On April 7th, 2016 seven of ten of Andy Warhol’s iconic soup cans were stolen from a museum in Springfield Missouri. The collection was set number 31 of the “Campbell’s Soup I” collection. I decided to do a tribute painting to Andy Warhol to commemorate his work. I figured “if Andy could, I CAN”. So… here it is, The Ghost of Andy Warhol – “Oil on Canvas” (pun intended).

I started out by painting a large 3D graphic relief of Andy Warhol’s face on the canvas. I then gessoed over it so I have a perfectly white canvas to work with. Next I painted a Gulfport Oil can over top for the portrait of Andy. When you look at the painting you first see the oil can in much the same way you’d see the Campbell’s Soup can that Andy painted.

But then something curious happens… the astute observer will notice odd raised areas in the white areas of the canvas. The structure of the raised areas are ordered enough to be there on purpose, did the artist paint over an older painting? Closer observation slowly reveals an eye, two eyes, a pair of glasses… is that hair? It is hair! Is that the nose? A mouth? It’s ANDY (friggin’) WARHOL!!!

And just like that… The Ghost of Andy Warhol appears

This is #22 in my Robot Series. The number 22 is scribed into the white background on the right hand side of the painting using a sculptor’s tool I found in the grass at Vinoy Park in St Pete Florida.

It is the only painting thus far in the Robot Series without a robot in it. But don’t think of a painting that strays from the robot series, it is, after all… their drink of choice (WWRD).