Map Of Eastern U.S.S.R. Missile Bases (Negative)
Map Of Eastern U.S.S.R. Missile Bases (Negative)
Painting
Andy Warhol
41 x 51cm, Painting, 1986
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Meaning & Analysis
Map of Eastern U.S.S.R. Missile Bases (Negative) is a 1986 painting by Andy Warhol, in which a map of the eastern Soviet Union is rendered in white line on a black ground. Missile symbols, base names and weapon designations such as SS-11 and SS-20 are scattered across the territory between China, Korea and Japan. The work is unsigned.
In the mid-1980s Warhol made a group of works from maps and diagrams of Cold War military installations, taking his source material from published reference diagrams rather than from photographs of people or products. Reproduced mechanically, these pictures sit apart from his portraits and consumer subjects but share their method, as a found image is enlarged, simplified and fixed on a large surface.
This canvas is the negative version, with the image reversed so that the land mass and lettering appear white against black. Coastlines are drawn as a thin, broken line, and a dashed boundary runs along the southern edge of the USSR. Rocket symbols are positioned at named sites, with labels reading SS-11, SS-17, SS-19, SS-20 and SS-4, alongside a key for ICBM and IRBM/MRBM weapons and the label “SLBM Base” near the Kamchatka peninsula. The words USSR, CHINA, JAPAN and KOREA are lettered in uneven capitals. Patches of white at the upper corners suggest cloud or a satellite image. The roughness of the printed line gives the picture a worn, photocopied look.
Made in the final year of Warhol’s life, the work shows the subject matter of his late paintings extending well beyond celebrity and commerce.
