Skull (1976)

 

Relevance to my work:

Warhol used the image of the memento mori skull in his Skull screen print series. The shadow of the skull is said to be in the shape of a baby’s head (working in a similar way to that of Tim Noble and Sue Webster), pointing to the passing of life and bringing a response in the viewer to the inevitability of death. Warhol uses stark colours and a lot of black and white within his prints and this is something that I plan to do within my work, the black and white creates a harshness that draws attention to the black and white subject matter that life and death is.

 

 

After he was shot and critically injured in 1968, Warhol became even more obsessed with the theme of death than he had been previously. The skull, a traditional symbol of mortality, is repeated six times, with the impenetrable darkness of the hollow eye sockets echoed in each image. The shadow cast by the skull resembles a baby’s profile, although whether this was intentional is unknown as Warhol did not take the photograph that the screenprint is based on. It seems unlikely, however, that this effective combination of both life and death would escape Warhol’s sharp gaze. In contrast to the sinister subject, the colours are vibrant. Perhaps Warhol is attempting to acknowledge that death is not something to be feared but instead, should be accepted as part of life."

 

(Anon. (n.d.). 'Skull'. [website]. Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-skulls-ar00609/text-online-caption. [2/4/2014].)