Andy Warhol - Screen Prints

Currently exhibiting at The Whitworth Gallery in Manchester is a collection of Andy Warhol works from the 1970's and 80's. These include his famous works such as 'Self Portrait'  the 'Electric Chair' series and 'Gun'. Following on from the A2 graphics screen printing workshop, this exhibition was a great experience to see screen printing on such a huge scale and to see the different techniques used to create such bold, vibrant and powerful pieces.

Warhol uses halftones on his photographic prints - halftone is a printing technique similar to pointillism in drawing. To monochromatically produce a gradient, small dots must be used in different densities to create the optical illusion of a shaded area, this was widely used in comics and newsprint in the 1960's when Warhol began his works. The halftone pattern is exaggerated in fellow Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein's paintings.

This technique can be recreated now using a halftone filter in Photoshop to help create a gradient using just one colour ink.

 'Self Portrait' 1986

'Electric Chair' Series 1971

 'Gun' 1981

Not all Warhol's screen prints used the halftone, his 'Dollar Sign' and 'Map of Eastern U.S.S.R. Missile Bases' for example use simple block stencils.

'Map of Eastern U.S.S.R. Missile Bases' 1985-86

'Dollar Sign' 1982