Fiesta Pig 1979

Editor: Alright, next up is Andy Warhol's "Fiesta Pig" from 1979, a screenprint. It's giving off this weird, slightly unsettling vibe, almost dreamlike with the blue tones and disjointed perspectives. What strikes you when you look at this print? Curator: Unsettling is a good word! It's like glimpsing a bacchanal gone slightly off-kilter, isn't it? The pig, teetering among these bright dishes… it makes you wonder what kind of feast this really is. It reminds me of when I was a child; my mom bought an entire pig once to roast for Christmas! Can you believe that? But this… is something else altogether. What does "fiesta" conjure for you, aside from parties? Editor: It makes me think of celebration, excess... maybe even something a bit grotesque, depending on the context. Warhol often played with those themes, right? Excess, commodification... Is the pig a comment on that? Curator: Possibly. Warhol was brilliant at holding a mirror to our obsessions. The pig as the centerpiece – is it revered, or about to be consumed? Notice how it carefully, almost delicately, steps from plate to plate. There is something human-like about that attitude. Tell me, what would happen if we replace that pig with your family during Thanksgiving, with all the dinnerware, for example? Does it shift something inside of you? Editor: Absolutely! I mean...suddenly, the consumer becomes the consumed! Sort of changes the dynamics doesn’t it? Curator: Exactly! The “Fiesta Pig” takes your assumptions and throws a party on them. Suddenly the feast has an uninvited guest... namely, YOU. And then, Warhol sits back and laughs, the joker... or maybe, simply the pig. Editor: Wow. It's amazing how a seemingly simple image can have so many layers. I will never see another plate again the same way! Curator: Indeed! Which proves how powerful art is, it's truly the feast of the eyes!