Oxidation Series
In the late 1970s and
early 1980s, Warhol began to explore abstraction. Here, the artist seems
to revel in the beauty and mood of color and texture in a way he had not
done previously. With his non-traditional materials, he both parodies and
beautifully realizes painterly abstraction. This painting and other Oxidations
were created by urinating onto a canvas covered with metallic paint causing
oxidation as the metal and acid reacted with one another.
Point of View by David Bourdon, in Warhol
"Warhol reveals his Rumpelstilskin desire to recycle waste into precious metal ... It is safe to assume that the artist had only the slightest interest in the chemical process, and was, in fact, far more interested in the alchemical implications, converting bodily fluids into something aesthetic and valuable."
Point of View by Shih Fa-He' / John Howald, Buddhist Monk
"Large submerged tenuous calligraphy. How should I read this painting, is there a message for me here? The quandary in modern art is that we do not know what it means. The message is illusive. The questioning and doubting that we do with Art is very much akin to the questioning, doubting, and seeking for answers that is the basis of religion. What does this painting mean? What did the artist want to say? What does my life mean? What does God say to me? It does not matter, or does it, that the origin of the message presented here was written in urine? We can say the origin of this message came from within the minds and bodies of men. The inspiring energy to create, crude or grand, where did that come from? The 'how', the media and the methods, are just interesting trivia."
Point of View by Christiane Leach, artist and musician
"The progressive artist is one who is hungry to stretch all boundaries, heeding no calls of protest from the offended. The elements in and around the world are seen with childlike excitement as a playground of fodder for the creative pioneer. This kind of artist is ravenous to create new textures, and forms, sifting many times through the overlooked and the tabooed to find what is needed. This kind of artist doesn’t see materials through the eyes of proper behavior but rather sees a new medium from which to play and create even if the new medium happens to be urine."
Andy Warhol, photo Greg Gorman, 1983
