Andy Warhol: the artist who made himself an immortal celebrity

Warhol: Immortal
Visa Platinum Gallery
Te Papa
Until August 25

Andy Warhol’s greatest mistake was his promotion of the celebrity. While the fault is not entirely his, he was a major influence on how we have come to see celebrities and their one dimensional personalities.

The new exhibition Warhol: Immortal at Te Papa makes this clear with an exhibition focusing on portraits he produced over four decades.

While Warhol produced a range of work his portraits are probably the most recognisable and the ones that made him the most money. They are also the works which many dismiss as merely money-making images. They also help define the latter part of the 20th century.

While there have been some major Warhol exhibitions over the last few years in Australia, such as the opening show at the new Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, few of his works have been shown here.

The exhibition includes drawings, paintings, Polaroids and vintage family photos exploring the phenomenon that is Warhol’s work on a personal level.

Warhol: Immortal focuses on his obsession with people throughout his career from early drawings through to some of the last works he ever made. The early works show him to be a reasonably skilled draughtsman with a keen eye for the observation of people, particularly himself.

From the 1970s on he started to do celebrity portraits. His subjects were stars and notable society and political figures, from to Grace Jones to Jacqueline Kennedy.

Some of the images he used were taken from newspapers and magazines, while others were taken in photo booths or as Polaroids. These images were then converted into silkscreens, printed onto canvas and painted with washes of colour.

Warhol was selective about who he chose as his celebrities. His world of celebrates were people he admired or thought were influential – Paris Hilton would not have got a look in. The people he chose were major artists, actors, writers, patrons and world leaders.

Warhol like many artists in the past wanted fame and fortune. He may have been shy and inept but through his art he made himself a star.

Childish fascination

He displays an almost childish fascination with the world where celebrities are bigger, brighter and more colourful – and billboard sized.

Included in the show are his images of famous people such as Robert Mapplethorpe, Sylvester Stallone, Queen Elizabeth and Marilyn Monroe.

Like many other artists, he is like a child who is totally self-centred, seeing himself as a reflection of the world. But he was ambivalent about himself. His self-portraits show him to be relatively handsome but he regarded himself as ugly and in later years.

After the attempt on his life he began to sense his own mortality and the portraits are grimmer In some of his works, like that with the wig like a witch's halo – he looks scary and scared.

The show also features some of his seminal films, including a 50-minute version of Sleep, the first film the artist made in 1963. It consists of long takes of John Giorno, his close friend at the time, sleeping for five hours and 20 minutes.

The exhibition also features his work as a commercial artist with the installation Silver Clouds,-cre-ted in 1966 and a selection of black-and-white film portraits or screen tests created in the mid-60s.

Visitors to the exhibition can even make a four-minute film of themselves in a silver-lined room.

Te Papa chief executive Michael Houlihan says: “This exhibition is exclusive to Te Papa so we are expecting considerable national and transTasman interest. We are committed to showing more art from our own collection and from the best the world has to offer.

"This exhibition is the first of many more to come and will be a ‘must see’ for many people,”

Warhol: Immortal has been curated by Te Papa’s Contemporary Art Curator, Sarah Farrar, in partnership with The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, USA.