After the Party 183 is a black and white photo of a table with scattered glasses and plates, brought to life by the rainbow gradient highlighting the subjects. There is an inherent chaos in the work, a feeling of excess, in part due to the reflective quality and haphazard arrangement of the glasses, the bright hues that outline the items, and the manner in which the print was created and aligned. The print evokes ideas of gilded wealth and excess and their perceived glory, hiding a plainness and darkness behind them. Each print of After the Party has a unique colorful outlining around the objects in the work, making no two prints completely alike.
After the Party 183 by Andy Warhol as Part of His Larger Body of Work
The subject and the print itself suggest the residue of a frenzied yet enjoyable gathering through both compositional arrangement and artistic liberties taken by Warhol in the creation of this print. “The best kind of party I could give would be champagne and nuts and then take everybody dancing” (The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again p. 196). According to the catalogue raisonné Andy Warhol Prints by Feldman & Schellmann, the rainbow roll drawing line varies from print to print.
