ANDY WARHOL, 'GRAPES'
In the present etchings the totality of the work may only be apprehended by viewing the whole portfolio. Judd thereby ensures that neither the rectangularity of the aquatint ground nor the linear image is predominant as might be the case when viewing each image in isolation.
By restricting the tonal variation to one color (black) and by masking out the design elements, Judd emphasizes the flatness of the image, for margins and the motif are in the same plane and tone. The aquatint, which in all other respects acts as a ground, is paradoxically, therefore, the only printed area. The coarse application of the aquatint, which allows a speckled penetration by the paper tone, further emphasizes this flatness.
Midway through his career, Andy Warhol created a distinct departure from his more representational images (i.e. portraits) for which he had largely been known, returning instead to themes that had first interested him almost twenty years before which included still lifes. It was at this point that Warhol began experimenting with a number of surface-altering processes both in his paintings and prints. The resulting chemical and alchemical reaction guaranteed that no two images were alike. The artist’s Grapes series fits nicely into this career niche/ change in printing processes applied.
Andy Warhol, Grapes #195, 1979
Screenprint in colors on Strathmore Bristol paper
Hand-signed in ink and numbered
40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm), unframed | Edition of 50