Andy WARHOL - Electric Chair (FS II.81)

The Electric Chair portfolio is a part of Andy Warhol’s Death and Disaster series. In his Death and Disaster series, Warhol explored the relationship between tragic images and how they were portrayed in the media. This portfolio features the haunting image of an electric chair repeated ten times. Warhol of the repetition of the image in each print was a metaphor for how the media treats images of the content. By seeing the image repeated, the images are no longer seen as a horrific electric chair but highlights the colors chosen by Warhol. As part of Warhol’s most controversial and thought provoking series, the Electric Chair portfolio opens up a dialog between the viewer and the work about how society has become numb to images of tragedy. The release of this portfolio coincided with the final execution by electric chair at New York’s Sing Sing Sate Penitentiary. This portfolio features prints in bold, bright colors true to Warhol’s pop art style as well as more somber and haunting color choices. Collectors enjoy this portfolio for the notoriety of its subject matter and the wide range of colors employed by the kind of Pop Art, Andy Warhol.