Pop Art Superstar
CONTRARY TO POPULAR belief, the social media phenomenon was conceived way before the 2000s – specifically in the 1970s and 1980s.
Andy Warhol was one of the earliest adopters of social media; some of his works of art, at their core, documented his everyday life in the form of photography and film. And the pop artist wasn’t one to shy away from the limelight. As his fame grew over the years, he became an expert in fertilising and cultivating his own celebrity profile – one that is distinguished by his trademark peroxide blonde coiffure, dark glasses and piercing eyes.
The artist’s retrospective exhibition, which has been closed indefinitely at London’s Tate Modern due to the global pandemic, is the museum’s first Warhol exhibition since 2002. It features more than 100 works and focuses on three major themes: Warhol’s immigrant roots, his identity as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and his perspective on death and religion.
Ladies And Gentlemen
Twenty-five works from the Ladies and Gentlemen series – portraits of figures from New York’s transgender community – are shown for the first time in 30 years. Warhol took more than 500 photographs of 14 models and a selection of these were enlarged onto silkscreens. The series was an exploration of performance, glamour and personality; expressive brush marks and fingerpainting were used to add depth and dimension to the original photographs. But some questioned the ethics of this series; Warhol had documented
a community he was not really a part of, with the subjects having little say in how they were portrayed or where the works would be exhibited.
The Shooting
An assassination attempt on Warhol by radical feminist writer Valerie Solanas in 1968 affected the artist’s physical and mental health for the rest of his life. He became nervous around people he didn’t know, had trouble eating and had to wear a surgical corset to support his vital organs. Despite the trauma of the event, he still agreed to have his scars documented by American photographer Richard Avedon – and even compared the stitches on his chest to an Yves Saint Laurent dress.
Self-portraits
Warhol established himself as the world’s most renowned pop artist, not only through his works, but also through his image. His personality was as much of a construct as his paintings and he created numerous renditions of his self-portraits throughout his career.
The final series of portraits before his death in 1987 draws attention to his iconic wig, which sweeps across diagonally from the top left corner down towards the lower right. This, coupled with his signature gaze and slightly parted lips, makes up the artist’s inimitable identity.
“If you want to know all about Andy Warhol,” he famously said, “just look at the surface of my paintings, films and me, and there I am. There’s nothing behind it.”
Andy Warhol’s exhibition at Tate Modern is on until 6 September. However, due to the temporary closure of the museum, a virtual tour of the exhibition can be accessed via www.tate.org.uk