In case you hadn't already heard,
there is an exhibition of works by Andy Warhol
at Te Papa in Wellington, on now until 25 August.
Andy Warhol (1928-1987) - one of the 20th century’s great pop art icons -
remains an enigmatic figure, even 25 years after his death.
Glitteringly public yet intensely private. Openly gay yet quietly devout.
Astronomically successful yet painfully insecure.
Quintessentially American yet a conspicuous outsider.
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| Andy Warhol (USA), Cow Wallpaper [Pink on Yellow], 1966 Screenprint (reprint 1994) |
Te Papa’s Warhol: Immortal exhibition features the artist’s portraits and self-portraits
across a range of media: drawings, photobooth snapshots, Polaroids, paintings,
screen prints, installations, and films - including his ‘screen tests’ and MTV show.
On show are portraits of celebrities such as Prince and Jane Fonda, political leaders like Chairman Mao,
and the bohemians who hung out at the Factory, Warhol’s studio in the 1960s.
The works on this website represent a mere fraction of the more than 150 on display.
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| Andy Warhol (USA), Prince, 1984 Screenprint |
After leaving his successful career as a commercial artist, Warhol turned the art world upside down.
He made the commercial artistic, and the everyday iconic.
He drew on the tools of mass media: relentless repetition, blazing technicolour,
and an intense - even voyeuristic - focus on beauty.
Few have understood the power of branding and propaganda so well.
‘In the future, everybody will be world-famous for 15 minutes.’
Warhol’s prescient remark, made in the late 1960s, has come to define the era in which we live
- an age of instant communication, social networking, and reality TV.
Love him or hate him, he’s hard to ignore.
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| Andy Warhol (USA), Reigning Queens: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, 1985 Screenprint |
For more information about the Warhol exhibition at Te Papa:
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