Bald Eagle, from Endangered Species 1983

Andy Warhol made this Bald Eagle, from Endangered Species, with screenprinting. It’s interesting to think about Warhol and how he made this image. The first thing that hits you is the colour: that blue, like a super-bright sky, and then the eagle itself, edged in red like an after-image or neon sign. I can imagine him in his studio, wrestling with the silkscreen, pushing the ink through with a squeegee. It's a mechanical process, but there's something so human, so fallible about it too. The eagle feels fragile, precarious, even though it’s this powerful symbol. It's like Warhol is asking us to look closer, to see the beauty and the vulnerability all at once, and to connect with the work of other artists.