Andy Warhol in Drag

"Andy Warhol in Drag", Christopher Makos

Often feeling like an outsider to both artistic and mainstream culture due to his eccentricities and homosexuality, Warhol’s ‘otherness’ is often present in his work. He often created works that featured images of nude men or diva idolization. To manifest this queerness into a tangible image, Christopher Makos photographed him in drag, dramatically emphasizing his differences from heteronormative society. Makos’ usage of sharp contrasts, such as light and dark, masculine and feminine, and costume and nudity all highlight Warhol’s various complexities within his personality and image. Inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s alter ego Rrose Selavy and Warhol’s many portraits of glamorous divas and Hollywood superstars, Makos inverts those ideas onto Warhol himself, turning him into the star he idolized. It’s a compelling commemoration of Warhol’s distinct personality and career that places him directly within the sphere of queerness, finally rendering him as an insider of a socially constructed group.