There’s a series of eight soup can prints on display at “Warhol Soup,” a small exhibit at Armand Bartos Fine Art.  Warhol made them in 1968, six years after he painted the thirty-two soup can that made him famous.  The cans (both the objects and the artworks) are terribly nostalgic.  The labels have different kinds of fancy lettering, a row of fleurs-de-lis, and a big gold medallion.  And some of the varieties, like “Consomme (Beef)” and “Pepper Pot,” are hopelessly out of date.  (The original paintings included soups called “Scotch Broth” and “Cheddar Cheese.”)

The prints made me realize what a fantastic graphic designer Warhol was.  They’re executed with incredible clarity and the red in them is a flat, glorious, perfect red.  The depictions aren’t faithful optically but shrewdly flatten perspectives and filter details to shape an image that’s instantly comprehensible.  Warhol has always been understood as a trickster, but he’s also a brilliant designer.