James Schlavin





Andy Warhol - 37 Cent Stamp Self Portrait

The artist statement that Warhol gave with this piece is
"If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface: of my paintings and films and me, and there I am.
There's nothing behind it."

I think that this piece holds a lot of narrative. I think that it contains the information needed within it as well because it is designed to be a stamp. This shows the value placed upon it, and the value Warhol holds in it, and I think this is an interesting aspect of his involvement in the Pop Art Movement. I really see the color first when I look at this piece. It isn't really a strong color, but it competes so much with the figure that I have a hard time seeing the portrait at first. I think this is an interesting choice, because Warhol states that what is on the surface is him. This goes beyond the image representing himself, to the object and the colors itself.

This piece is very traditional in composition - Figure centered, head centered roughly one third from the top of the piece. He uses a very simple palette (black and white plus two colors) and they are very flat, which really emphasizes the color rather than competing with value or texture. The painting is very balanced, and really quite normal as far as self-portraits are concerned. The part of this painting that is so unusual is the fact that it was painted to become a postage stamp. This is almost a reversal of Warhol's usual objects (painting "portraits" of soup cans etc.) Instead he paints himself on an everyday object that can be bought and sold and used by anyone.