Culture as nature

346 / CULTURE AS NATURE Rauschtubcrg's view ~'f his landscape of media was both aff'ectionate and ironic. He likecl cxcavating wllole histories within an image histories of the media themselves. A pcrfcct cxamplc is the red patch at the bottom right corner of Retroactive I (plate 229), It is a silkscreen enlargement of'a photo by Gjon Mili, which he found in LiJe magazine. Mili's photograph was a caref'ully set-up parody, with the aid of a stroboscopic flash, of …

…appear to have fizzled out. No seriouslNT taken artist of the twcntieth century, with the possible exception of Salvador Dali, hatl dcvotctl so much time and skill to the cultivation of publicity. Instead of lDali's hcat, `!hicl1 claimetl to transform everything it touched, Warhol projected an ironic and affectless cool, which let everything be itself. Warhol's insight was that you do not haN e to act crazy; you can let others do that for you.