The abstract works that Warhol produced late in his career were a radical departure for an artist who, up until the mid-1970s, had been strongly associated with pictures of recognizable products and personalities. To create the Oxidations series, Warhol, his assistants, and visitors to his studio urinated on canvases prepared with metallic paints, causing color variation through a chemical reaction. The resulting images, which tread the line between vulgarity and beauty, are characteristic of the ambiguity Warhol cultivated around his work. They also raise the question of whether the process by which an artwork is made has an influence on its meaning and impact.