Andy Warhol And His Twelve Faces
Tate unleashes your inner…man during the ongoing Andy Warhol exhibition
Available to see : 12th of March - 15th of November 2020 at Tate Modern
by KLAUDIA KONDRACIUK | 25 OCT 20
The exhibition complements two already existing related events, Andy Warhol Inspired Dining destined for those who wish to enlengthen the experience and stay for… diner, enjoying dishes inspired by the exhibition as well as Members Hours: Andy Warhol, designed for people who value their alone-time spend with the artwork free of the other visitors. Three of them build the full experience of bringing back the memory of Andy Warhol at Tate Modern, the core being today’s topic.
The tittle of the exhibition corresponds with the organisation of the works within the place. Showcasing a lifetime of cultural identity, seen as both an artist and a man, with the latter being predominate, Andy Warhol is humanised in each of the 12 rooms situated at Tate Liverpool. As it is written at Tate Liverpool website of the exhibition: “[..] It draws attention to Warhol’s personal story and how his view of the world shaped his art” (Tate, 2020) and this is truthful to the reality.
Key of the display is the context of a contemporary art maker with the emphasis on personal drives and individual experiences that shape the artistry with theme of art mimicking life.
The rooms are reminiscent to use a form of a narrative, looking back to polyphonic novel, featuring variety of different voices and points of view. Every room unwraps a different chapter of the artist’s biography, narrating the life and artistry of Andrew Warhola in the times of social and cultural shifts, seen at different stages. They provide context of looking at him as a human of change, artist of many genres, political activist, lover, son, American, victim of a shooting, consequently moulding more philosophical, stoic art, achieving the reception of the viewer to be constantly challenged, bombarded by a different image of an individual over and over again. Seeing Warhol in 12 rooms makes an even more generalised division by grouping his life in three stages based on: cultural shift from a Czech ghetto to a new continent, queer identity and existentialism.
Every space creates a moment, achieved by a rather intimate space, in order to meditate over the displayed objects. It shows a dialogue between inclusivity of the public display with an homage to similar spirit of Pop, being a fully realised theme within the exhibition and darkened spaces (see room 6) which arranges a sense of confidentiality. This contrast provides additional dynamic of Room 2, which establishes the relationship of Warhol with his models and the viewers, subconsciously desiring for the same connection.
Execution of Room 2 copies this concept more literally, almost verbally, dedicating to the film Sleep. Made in 22 close-up clips during the spring and autumn of 1963 it examines influence of an oneiric element on the conscious. What function does it have? By showing someone’s act of sleep, something that intimate, the curators of the exhibition deliver quite the awakening. There is fear, desire and uncertainty brought from the world of dreams and implemented into the art. This is what droves an individual to make art. Linking this piece to draw upon those specific to human nature features suggests an everyday man point of view. Self-discovery through love unleash his inner artist even more and connect viewers with the nature of the exhibition, relating to one’s catharsis. At the end of a day, who is not inspired by the ones they love? Human act of creation is seldom dependent on this feeling, having its destructing and creative powers.
Male gaze is also noticeable within the numbers of the early drawings from the 1950s of the men he knew and desired, such as Charles Lisanby, a production designer, whom the artists travelled the world with and work Torso (1977).
The first, lack of predator toxicity, consequently achieving a feeling of curious self-discovery trough lenses of sexuality, emphasising on the interest of establishing queer identity. The later piece was described in the exhibition brochure, available in pdf format to gain additional insight of understating the context more : “This work is based on a Polaroid photograph of the actor and filmmaker Bobby Houston standing on his head. Warhol transforms the intimacy of the original image into a painting, which appears to reference ancient Roman sculpture and erotic photographs. Warhol referred to his paintings depicting male nudes as his ‘landscapes”.
By the use of linearity and synthesis together with care of detail (drawings), Warhol reveals his personal connection with the models within early drawings. Even though the forms are simplified,
the man differ from each other, carrying individualised physical qualities, allowing the viewer to even distinguish some personality traits, such as attachment, feeling of insecurity or pride. Whereas Torso (1977) is an ode to men’s body, reminiscent to Michelangelo’s fascination over what perfection human body is and what potential does it have in the surrounding him world. By the lack of characteristics, the depiction does not objectify man, but celebrates aesthetics of beauty in a Renaissance way.
It is a similar take to what the artist offers in Sleep, where the poet, John Giorno is glorified for his physical beauty, looking back at technique of foreshortening in Andrea Mantegna’s Lamentation of Christ. Both characters are static, however the connotations cannot be more unrelated. Having said that, they relay on analogy of putting the model on a pedestal, what gives an additional layer of analysis to Sleep, sacralising the idea of love. The viewer is meant to make analogies during this exhibition experiment, examining the same context from a different time perspective to notice nuances characteristic to where in his life Warhol is, which leads to a reflection of one’s personal growth.
Selection of different techniques, acrylic paint with screen-print on canvas and a simplified line show the need of experiment within the same subject matter. It allows to experience multidimensionality of different approach to the queer fascination, preventing the project to be realised as featureless.
Art of two different stages in his life, the period of cultural referencing capturing a sense of youth and post-shooting trauma, both still visually stimulating, but in different ways. Rooms 1-6 add a narrative of a world seen trough lenses of an excited and curious artist on the American scene of 1950s-1960s. Making art in the times of forbidden gay love, horror of AIDS, invading the continent since 1960s, loud political manifestations on the streets and racism was not creating a hospitable environment for self-expression. It is still a war, one after another, except for this time, people fight with the system among their country to defeat social constructs. The queer circle composed of poets, dancers, literates, designers and artists united to take a part in rewriting history. Ironically, some of them, including Warhol, became icons, faces of LGBTQ+ America, similarly recognisable to the ones, examined trough lenses of consumerism and social concept of a cult trough the technique of printmaking. This reasoning leads the audience to the room of Pop. Warhol being a prolific illustrator, but constantly driven to challenge himself, turns to advertising imaginary. The artist builds this pop, graphic version of himself, using personal experience to influence his career. Remembering struggles of his family’s emigrant background and poverty, he adapts the memory of eating a provisory version of a soup made of ketchup and salt to revolutionary idea of consumerist art, selling a dream of economic and social progress (Tate, 2020) Faced with criticism, Pop art, had its perfect justification to emerge at this moment in history, just after the time of Utility scheme, providing context for Warhol’s work. Romanticising of liberal accessibility of goods and art for the mass consumer. Although his pop oeuvre shows all of these signs, it also foreshadows a part of him being dominated by the idea of death, which will evoke in pieces like Skulls (1976), Sixty Last Suppers (1986) and Richard Avedon’s photography of Andy Warhol (1969). This pessimistic school of thought was developed because of the incident of the 3rd of June 1968, the writer Valerie Solanas came to the Factory and shot Warhol, damaging his internal organs. Warhol was rushed to hospital and was declared clinically dead, but doctors managed to revive him. (Tate, 2020) The last example takes inspiration form the world of classical art, Leonardo da Vinci, his family kitchen, where the copy was hung and reacts to death of his former lover, Jon Gould. It is a bridge between old and young, the yin and yang perspective on art yet dominated by foreground decadency. Sixty Last Suppers could be seen as a moving portrayal of endless loss, reminiscent of ‘columbarium’, the wall graves found in many cemeteries. (Tate, 2020) Printmaking and copies are very telling in this context. Just like the blurring image of the last copy of Marilyn Monroe, both the image of the 12 apostles and the actress, die becoming a caricature for the sake of the masses.
It is comparable with the recent phenomenon of the aesthetic of a French Girl , (Vogue 2020) generalising and romanticising the visuals of a young woman living in Paris, including a nonchalant look and making it easier to mimic by non-French masses to copy. In result, both of these examples are one nation centred, protecting one’s social appearance such as the idea to fit in. They are both delusional and almost mythical, playing a role in constructing a disappointing in reality expectation such as The American or French Dream. Curation of this piece, just like Pop art uses the tool of nostalgia, taking the viewer back to their adolescence to draw upon positive emotions often associated with one’s years of youth. Warhol dreams five times throughout the exhibition in Sleep, Self-Portrait, Pop period (Campbell’s Soup Cans, 1962), depicting Debbie Harry (1980), who daydreamed that Marilyn Monroe was her real mother and Silver clouds (1966). The not yet mentioned Paintings that float (Tate,2020) reveal the artist need for the audience to engage with his work.
Unconventional sculptures were made to interact with the viewer, bringing the association of waking dream, which could be arranged any way the audience like, becoming the masters of their sleep.
In the context of the exhibition, the chosen pieces help to realise Warhol as a man with secondary look at the artwork itself made for the art’s sake.
The exhibition is based around diversities of 12 rooms, adapting a book narrative, each room represents a chapter in Warhol’s biography and 3 perspectives, which are created by the viewer itself reacting to the way of display, grouping artworks based on the feeling of similarity. The viewer connects the dots, concluding that some pieces even though coming from different rooms, show a level of likeness, although the artworks come from different time periods. For example, audience might reject the chronological order of the works or rooms, because the final result will not be affected.
Instead of disorganising, this natural need of making relation between elements helps to understand that a person (Warhol) is not closing one chapter of their life irreversibly, but the doubt and fear might occur even at the final stage of someone’s life and happiness could be found beyond traumatic experience. Therefore, the exhibition is not quite autonomous, but proves that is well placed since Constellations, also situated at Tate, is using comparable visual vocabulary to examine Walter Benjamin’s theory of the thought image, holding similar concepts to the nature of this review, often build on non-chronological order of events. This narrative discloses new meaning of the context and potential of the exhibition.
According to the statement Curating is an art of storytelling (Kholeif, 2019), the audience feels hospitability to take a part in this experience of self-discovery, no matter what stage of life the viewer happens to be at. Ironically, diversity bring Tate’s audience together, connecting it with the exhibition, using catharsis as a tool of awakening the relatedness to the artist.