“I want to be a machine,” Warhol once said. In 1967 the artist established a publishing and printmaking business, Factory Additions, through which he produced a series of screenprint portfolios on various subjects. To make Flowers, Warhol used an image of hibiscus flowers from a commercial magazine and then created ten distinct reproductions, manipulating the colors from sheet to sheet. The image of the technicolor flower repeats, echoing the proliferation of images on television and in advertising culture. “The more you look at the same exact thing,” he remarked, “the more the meaning goes away, and the better and emptier you feel.”
Gallery label from 2024