Are You Different?

Are You Different? is from a series of Warhol paintings from the 1980s that draws on newspaper advertisements and articles for their subject matter. Warhol was a chronic recycler of themes and subjects and indeed, he had previously executed a related series in the 1960s. Recycling, repetition and most importantly, reinvention were the themes that made Warhol the enfant terrible in the 1960s and he would continue these trends throughout his career.

Are You Different? is in some ways related to the artist's noted Self-Portraits. Warhol was the consummate outsider--socially awkward, physically unattractive and homosexual--but he endeavored to change his appearance and become "different" through his lifestyle choices and in the persona projected in his Self-Portraits. In each Self-Portrait, Warhol would reinvent himself. His last Self-Portrait series shows the artist in what would become his trademark shock wig, which appears to be visually related to the star in Are You Different? The theme of wanting to be different, a constant in all of his Self-Portraits also appears to suggest that this painting is a kind of Self-Portrait, albeit an indirect one.