Repent and Sin No More! (negative), 1985-86
Information about the artwork
- MaterialAcrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas
- Dimensions203.5 x 183.4 cm
- Year of acquisition2002
- Inventory numberUAB 592
- On viewLower level
- Copyright© 2024 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Haydar Koyupinar, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Museum Brandhorst, Munich
More about the artwork
At first glance, “Repent and Sin No More!” appears as a vibrant advertisement in bold lettering outlined in white against a black background. In this series, which is part of a group of works called “Black & White Ads,” Andy Warhol used templates, one of his favored techniques. First, he enlarged collected snippets from advertising brochures and small ads, and then he screenprinted them onto the canvas. At the same time, the series presents Warhol’s complex and nuanced examination of religious maxims. Evangelical slogans like “Repent and Sin No More!” not only testify to the depth of his Christian convictions. The works were also created at a time when the moral panic and stigma surrounding the AIDS epidemic were intensified by the church and the media: the disease was instrumentalized as a punishment for “sinful” behavior. Works like this allude to Warhol’s confrontation with this double standard and the finger pointing, thus bearing witness to the social and moral dilemmas of his time.
