The Warhol Museum

Steve Wynn 1983
Silkscreen on linen

Belonging to Warhol’s collection of celebrity silk screens, this two canvas piece captured my attention with its air of glitz and glamour. Painted in my personal favorite combination of black and gold, this piece utilizes a technique that is unique to the process of silk screening from a photograph: inversion. By flipping the negative of a roll of film, the highlights, meant to be in lighter shades, become the darker shades and vise-versa. The left hand canvas had a gold background and the subject was printed in black, the right hand and inverted image had a black background and the subject was printed in gold. This technique goes a step beyond Warhol’s usual pop-art style.

As like any student of art, I have been desensitized to Warhol’s pop-art portraits, having seen and studied so many of them. However, upon walking into a room full of them, this one was different. Not knowing the subject of this piece, Steve Wynn, with his striking features, I was distracted by this subtle change in style. Rather than presenting a celebrity face, this piece introduced me to a new side of Warhol that was, not only inspiring, but refreshing in a sea of pop-art style portraits.