I went to see the Andy Warhol exhibit at Chiostro de Bramante on Sunday. It was pretty awesome, and filled in alot of Warholian gaps in my knowledge base.
Here’s what I knew about Andy Warhol before the exhibit:
David Bowie played him in that movie Basquiat.
He painted alot of soup cans.
He was very important.
He had grey hair.
…
And some other stuff too, I mean i’m not an ignoramus. Especially not now after seeing the show. Now I know alot of other stuff too.
He painted a portrait of Sylvester Stallone. Also Liza Minelli and Jane Fonda. And others.
He was obsessed with death and money. Especially after the chick from SCUM shot him.
He didn’t just make nice looking soup cans he also made ones with peeling labels. etc.
He was a photographer as well.
He made works based on Etruscan (the Romans before the Romans) art, and also based on works by da Vinci, Boticelli and Raphael.
He was Catholic.
…
And so much more.
Essentially the exhibit was grouped by themes, and was a comprehensive retropective of his 2D works. It gave me a great insight into Warhol the Man, and Warhol the Artist, which of course helped provide context for Warhol as I really knew him before, Warhol the Icon.
It also helped refocus my art timeline; alot of art that looks passe or overdone that I see, over-reliant on commercial images, and bold colour pallettes and so forth. Well, they all owe huge debts to Warhols Pop Art. He came first. Before anyone else was doing it.
