ANDY WARHOL, FLOWERS (F. & S. II.66), FLOWERS SERIES, SIGNED SCREEN PRINT, 1970
The screen print Flowers (F. & S. II.66), from Andy Warhol’s Flowers series (1970), shows the artist’s famous flower motif, rotated, rendered in this print with soft pink and oranges hues against a starkly contrasted grass background. With the Flowers series, Warhol exhibits his unrivalled skill in the screen print process by using the same photographic motif for each print and rendering it in a multitude of variations of colour and composition.
Taken from a photograph by Patricia Caulfield found in a 1964 issue of Modern Photography, Warhol deliberately appropriates and repeats the image excessively to mirror the mechanical forms of reproduction found in mass-media that he was so fascinated by. This idea of assembly-line production was reinforced by Warhol’s ‘Factory’ that opened in New York in 1964, where he produced many of his screen prints, noting: ‘Mechanical means are today and using them I can get more art to more people. Art should be for everyone.’
Flowers (F. & S.II.66) reworks the traditional art historical genre of flower painting, by appropriating an image from a magazine and reproducing it in a ‘machine-like’ manner, to challenge ideas of fine art, authorship and creativity. Warhol directly participates in appropriation and image dissemination. Consciously banal and synthetic. He rejects hierarchical compositions in favour of flattened perspective and abolishes complex colour harmonies for monochrome planes of flat colour and artificially bright ink.
Find out more about Flowers by Andy Warhol.
ABOUT ANDY WARHOL
Andy Warhol (born Andrew Warhola) is a name synonymous with the celebrity culture and mass consumerism which coloured the boulevards of New York City in the Post World War II era. Born into a working class immigrant family in the urban landscape around the bustling metropolis, Warhol’s early life was characterised by a climb up the capitalist rungs of society.
The artist himself noted, “buying is more American than thinking, and I’m as American as they come”, this quote came to demarcate Warhol’s artistic practice as he embraced the commodification of the American Dream. The Pop artist’s beginnings in the business sector gave him the practical skill set to experiment with a more commercial approach to art throughout his career, particularly with regards to screen printing. Read more about Andy Warhol.
