Warhol exhibit right at home at MOCA
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 23, 2002 9:00 p.m.
MOCA Warhol’s "Campbell’s Soup Cans" will be at MOCA starting
Saturday.
By Kelsey McConnell
Daily Bruin Contributor
[email protected]
In a city built on bright lights and young starlets, the work of
prolific pop-art guru Andy Warhol seems right at home.
Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art will be housing an
“Andy Warhol Retrospective” running tomorrow through
August 18. This is the show’s only United States tour stop;
representatives of MOCA and the city say it bodes well for the near
future of Los Angeles’ tourism industry and status as a
cultural center.
“Andy Warhol and Los Angeles have a lot in common,”
said L.A. Mayor James Hahn during a press conference. “He was
fascinated by icons of pop culture and became an icon himself.
We’re a place that continues to attract an Andy Warhol or
anyone interested in the cutting edge. We’re very fortunate
to get this exhibition in L.A.; we continue to be a place where art
is appreciated and where it begins.”
The exhibit’s promoters are hoping that the attention paid
MOCA during the run of this show will bring more life into downtown
Los Angeles.
Having such expectations riding on the “Andy Warhol
Retrospective” puts a lot of pressure on the success of the
exhibition, which was originally conceived by curator Heiner
Bastian for the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. The move from
Berlin to Los Angeles was almost obstructed by the events of Sept.
11.
“I prepared this exhibition for Berlin before the 11th of
September happened,” said Bastian. “I thought about
canceling this exhibition but American lenders convinced us to go
ahead.”
Bastian’s end product is a compilation of over 250
paintings, drawings and sculptures by Warhol, including many of his
landmark series like “Campbell’s Soup Cans,”
“Marilyn,” “Disaster” and
“Flowers.” But the collection also displays his lesser
known early and late works, spanning the 1940s through 1986, which
gives audiences a fuller perspective of Warhol’s
artistry.
MOCA has created an audio tour for the
“Retrospective,” so as audiences move through the
exhibition, they can learn more about both the individual works and
the life of Andy Warhol. The exhibit is displayed chronologically
to make Warhol’s maturation as an artist easy to follow.
First are line drawings produced when Warhol was a student at
the Carnegie Institute. Also among these early works are drawings
and paintings he did as a fashion illustrator and commercial
artist.
“We think of (Warhol) as a pop artist, but he’s much
more than that,” said MOCA director Jeremy Strick.
“There is another side seen in his earliest
drawings.”
Warhol decided to leave commercial work to follow different
creative pursuits. What comes next are the works more identified
with Warhol: the “Campbell’s Soup Can” series and
the portraits of Hollywood legends like Elvis and Elizabeth
Taylor.
The display puts special focus on Warhol’s 1960s
“Disaster” paintings. These works show grim images of
suicide, the electric chair and car crashes silk-screened onto
large canvases. In this series, Warhol uses color, space and
repetition to make the icons of destruction deeper in meaning.
Warhol’s last major series of paintings is also on
display. The large-scale works are based on Leonardo da
Vinci’s 15th century painting of Christ and the Apostles at
the Last Supper.
This comprehensive collection, likely to draw crowds in any
city, is particularly fitting in Los Angeles. While Warhol was
based in New York, his first art exhibition was held in L.A., and
Los Angeles was the factory of fame that produced most of
Warhol’s favorite subjects. Though Marilyn and Elvis no
longer stalk the streets, their legacy is alive in Warhol’s
work and in L.A.’s continued tradition of celebrity
manufacturing.
Additionally, MOCA provided a good space for the show.
“I’ve realized that this museum is very
beautiful,” Bastian said. “People in Berlin said (the
art work) never looked as good as it does here.”
Strick said that Los Angeles’ commitment to Warhol is seen
in the MOCA’s commitment to the exhibit.
“To put together an exhibition of this size usually takes
years,” he said. “MOCA did it in six months.”
With the massive amount of art placed on display, the scope of
Warhol’s vision can be experienced in its many facets and
textures.
“The artist as a young man wanted to be the Matisse of his
time,” Bastian said. “He became Andy Warhol. He changed
the language of art. Even his beautiful flower paintings turn
tragic under the viewer’s gaze. Warhol said more than we
could accept to see.”
ART: “Andy Warhol Retrospective” is
open Saturday through August 18 at the Museum of Contemporary Art
in Los Angeles. For more information on hours and ticket prices,
call (213) 621-2766 or visit www.mocala.org.
