This Friday, the Murality team paid a visit to Warhol – A Different Idea of Love at 1280 Homer Street, the largest collection of Warhol prints and paintings in Canada. This art exhibition is FREE to the public, from 11 am to 6pm until March 30.
Thirty years after his passing, American Pop artist Andy Warhol is still one of the most influential figures in art and culture. Renowned in his ability to elevate everyday object and celebrities to subjects of fine art, Warhol remains beloved by many art collectors, even surpassing Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet, according to the top selling in 2014. Simply last year, his work has been sold for over $500M and it’s no wonder some people call him “the great moneymaker”.
The exhibition features about 70 of his paintings, from movie stars, politicians to royal figures. Andy Warhol blatantly shows his love of fame and celebrities. By creating art of them, he indirectly recognized their influence at that time and the artist himself was weaved into the net of power as well. Yet as he befriended them, he was able to capture their spirit and reflected who they are honestly. In his artwork, beauty of actresses like Elizabeth Taylor and Judy Garland is magnified, yet the viewer can sense the vulnerability and delicacy under their sophistication. Their feminine characteristic was shown best with the contrasting color and sparkling eyes. On the other hand, the series of successful men conveys an absolute masculinity with their well-tailored suits and confident look. Perhaps Andy Warhol didn’t mean to differentiate them from genders, yet it might be an interesting way to look.
Political figures are in his realm of artwork as well. Both being communists, Lenin was immersed in red while Mao Zedong has a blue face on a green background. It is even more ironic to anyone who has some knowledge of China-Taiwan relationship since blue is the symbolic color of Mao’s rival party. And Queen Elizabeth II is surrounded by pink, a proud proclaim of soft power and female monarch.
Corresponding to Canadian historical background, there is also artwork of First Nation Art, which looks less “Andy Warhol-esque” but shows the variety of his artwork. He also utilizes techniques like collage to compare and contrast figures in his painting.
Andy Warhol’s colorful and luminous painting shed light to contemporary arts in 20th century. Few people can walk out of his exhibitions not having the artwork imprinted in their minds. Take a break from work or swing by on a lovely afternoon as Andy Warhol can bring joy to your day just like a sunny Vancouver day.
Murality 