Andy Warhol

Is it true that the more we see horrifying images on screens and in print, the more desensitized we become? In this work, Andy Warhol asks this question by borrowing an image of an electric chair from a mass-produced newspaper. A symbol of state-sanctioned violence and capital punishment, the electric chair is a jarring image, but it is also just that—an image. 

What power does an image hold when it is replicated, reproduced, and shared widely? Blown up to a much larger scale than it would have appeared originally and reproduced in shades of brown and pink, Electric Chair refuses to be ignored.