January Issue 2001
Weatherspoon Art Gallery in Greensboro, NC, Features Andy Warhol Related Exhibitions
"Pop Art is for everyone. I don't think
art should be for the select few, I think it
should be for the mass of American people, and they usually accept
art anyway. I
think Pop Art is a legitimate form of art like any other, Impressionism,
etc. It's not
just a put-on, I'm not the High Priest of Pop Art, I'm just one
of the workers in it."
- Andy Warhol, (1928-1987)
Pop Art will take center stage at The University
of North Carolina at Greensboro this spring, when an exhibition
of prints and films by Andy Warhol opens in the Weatherspoon Art
Gallery.
On loan by special arrangement from The Andy Warhol Museum in
Pittsburgh, PA,
The Prints of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again)
is to be one of the largest exhibitions of the artist's work ever
seen in the southeast. The exhibition will be on view from Feb.
4 through Apr. 22.
Through his paintings, underground movies and personal life, Andy
Warhol came to personify Pop Art more any other artist in the
public imagination. The scope of his work was enormous, ranging
from painting, drawing and printmaking to film and video. Printmaking,
however, with its capacity for infinite reproduction as well as
manipulation, was at the heart of Warhol's work.
Among the 70 Warhol prints on display will be some of his most
well known, including his repetitious renderings of Campbell's
Soup cans, dollar bills, camouflage, cows, Marilyn Monroe, Muhammad
Ali, Elizabeth Taylor, Mick Jagger and other celebrities.
To mark the significance of this rare event, the Weatherspoon
has planned an extravaganza of related exhibitions and programs
beginning in January, and extending well into April.
The Warhol Project, an exhibition by Deborah Kass, opens
Jan. 28, showcasing the New York City artist's use of Warhol's
style to explore gender, ethnicity and sexual identity. This exhibition
continues through Apr. 8. A third exhibition, Pop from the
Permanent, Jan. 14 through Apr. 15, features works from the
permanent collection by other artists who influenced Warhol and
made an impact on the Pop Art movement, including those by Roy
Lichtenstein, Tom Wesselman, Jim Dine, Robert Rauschenberg and
Alan D'Arcangelo. The concurrent exhibitions will provide an overview
of the history, development and significance of Pop Art.
"The Weatherspoon Art Gallery is very pleased for this opportunity
to present a trio of exhibitions of such popular interest and
artistic importance," said Nancy Doll, director. "Warhol
is clearly one of the most significant artists of the last fifty
years, and his influence on art and popular culture can't be overstated."
Special programs will include a series of films
by and about Warhol, a panel discussion featuring UNCG faculty
and Deborah Kass, a lecture by the director of The Andy Warhol
Museum, and special Sunday tours. A web site, gallery guides and
curriculum packets for teachers will be developed.
All events and exhibitions are open to the public, and are part
of the "ArtSmart" series at UNCG this year - a year-long
program to highlight the role of the arts in American society.
Andy Warhol earned fame and notoriety in his
lifetime, both for his art and for the company he kept. Among
his cohorts were the female impersonator, Candy Darling, the German
model and actress, Nico, heiress and actress Edie Sedgwick, singer
Lou Reed and his band, The Velvet Underground.
Schooled in commercial art at Carnegie Institute of Technology,
the Pittsburgh native relocated to New York City in the late 1940s,
determined to become a celebrity artist. By the 1960s, his ambition
had been fulfilled, when his multiple images of Campbell's Soup
cans created an art world sensation. Repetition became Warhol's
signature style, with his work continuing to reflect and comment
upon a culture of mass-production. In the process, he continually
blurred the lines between art and the everyday, forcing viewers
to see and think about the brash, commercial landscape of America
in a new light.
Though he is best known for his paintings and prints, Warhol worked in an array of mediums. His New York studio, which came to be known as The Factory, became fertile ground for his myriad collaborations with multiple artists. Photography, film and video, music and prints emerged from The Factory over the decades, elaborating upon this prolific artist's life-long fascination with popular culture, mechanization and celebrity.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings or call 336/334-5770, or check out their web site at (http://www.weatherspoon.uncg.edu).
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