SOLD. ANDY WARHOL, ‘Paintings for Children’ (Flash Sharivan Robot), 1983
ANDY WARHOL, ‘Paintings for Children’ (Flash Sharivan Robot), 1983
Acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas
16 × 13-9/10 inches | 40.7 × 35.4 cm
Frame included
PRIVATE COLLECTION / for reference only.
Obsessed with popular culture, stardom and advertising, Andy Warhol created his unrivalled, seemingly mass-produced images of everyday objects and people in the famous Factory studio in New York City. His use of mechanical reproduction methods, especially the commercial technique of screen printing, revolutionised art production for good.
In 1983, he was commissioned by Fujio Watanuki to create the portfolio “Kiku”, a homage to the chrysanthemum. The associated exploration of Japan, which he had visited twice (1956 and 1974), led to a series of works during this period, all of which have a direct connection to Japanese culture. Warhol collected Japanese toys, for example, and probably also a figure of “Space Sheriff Sharivan”, the then popular protagonist of the Japanese “Tokusatsu” television series of the same name, which was broadcast in 1983 and 1984. In this series of paintings, he paid tribute to Japanese popular culture by translating a small toy figure into his typical silkscreen painting style, thus forging a link to Pop Art and its superheroes in the USA. Different colour versions were created, in this case a robot in pastel shades on a red background.