Washington celebrates Warhol

Two shows discover the works of the late artist.

WASHINGTON: Fifteen minutes of fame just keeps going for Andy Warhol, the undisputed giant of pop art, who is getting not just one, but two major exhibitions in the US capital. Both shows open today (September 25) under the collective title ‘Warhol on the Mall’.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Warhol drew on his early experiences as a commercial designer to become one of the most important — and enigmatic — personalities in modern art. He is best known for outsized portraits of celebrities, although his talents extended into avant-garde film-making, Polaroid photography, writing and record producing.

One of the exhibitions, ‘Warhol: Headlines’, due to be held at the National Gallery of Art, will focus — for the first time — on the legendary artist’s fascination with front-page news and tabloid sensationalism.

Meanwhile, the second show ‘Andy Warhol: Shadows’, at the Hirshhorn museum, will bring together 102 monumental silkscreened and hand-painted canvases, conceived from distorted photographs of shadows.

About 80 pieces make up the ‘Headlines’ show, which touches on such themes as airplane crashes, the assassination of President John F Kennedy and the many love affairs of late actor Elizabeth Taylor. “He is calling our attention to the fact that the media is feeding our appetite for the news, which is seemingly insatiable,” said Molly Donovan, the show’s curator. “He wanted to show us that we’re responsible for the news, that the news in its contents is largely determined by us through our patronage, through our consumption and desires and fears,” she added.

While ‘Headlines’ draws from the earlier stages of Warhol’s fame, ‘Shadows’ emerged in the last decades of his life.

Rich in blues, greys and reds, the 102 canvases will be installed edge-to-edge and run uninterrupted for almost 450 feet (150 meters) around the Hirshhorn’s galleries.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th,  2011.