Andy Warhol

Rats and Star

1983

© 2022 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by DACS, London

License this image

Not on display

Artist: Andy Warhol 1928–1987
Medium: Lithograph on paper
Dimensions: Support: 572 × 840 mm
frame: 640 × 905 × 38 mm
Collection: ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland
Acquisition: ARTIST ROOMS Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
Reference: AR00448

Online caption

This poster features the front and back designs for Rats & Star’s album ‘Soul Vacation’. The eighties Japanese pop group’s name originates in the belief that it is possible to be a ‘rat’, coming from a less prosperous background, and still become a star: a notion close to Warhol’s heart as the son of working-class immigrants. In the design by Warhol from 1983, he draws on this idea of advancement and progression with the left side appearing incomplete, showing the working process or beginnings of creating a screenprint. The right side then shows the finished portraits of the men as stars. He incorporates blocks of colour beneath a black print over which he has layered printed hand-drawn elements.