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Long before the paparazzi frenzy defined celebrity, 20th Century icon Andy Warhol examined the fickle and intoxicating concept of fame, pop culture and mass celebration through various artistic mediums.
The Wexner Center is commemorating the Pittsburgh native’s work with the only North American installation of “Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms,” which is open through Feb. 15 at the Ohio State University venu. The dynamic, multimedia and diverse environment showcase features more than 700 works and items dating from 1949 to 1987. It includes films and TV programs, paintings, photographs, drawings, prints, wallpaper, installations, objects, obscure audio recordings and extraordinary archival material.
“A lot of people have been to the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, and some have seen Andy Warhol paintings or silkscreens in other exhibitions or museums, but this isn’t just another Andy Warhol show,” said Karen Simonian, Wexner Center's Director of Media and Public Relations. “It’s a highly designed show, and I think people who come into the show will have their jaws just drop. It has totally transformed the Wexner Center.
“It’s never looked quite like this, and it’s definitely the most transformative show we’ve ever had. It’s broken up into these sort of landscapes that flow through the very distinctive Wexner Center galleries. And it really presents Warhol’s work in a whole new way.”
“Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms” -- which was created by the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and curated by Eva Meyer-Hermann -- takes an imaginative and expansive view into the pop art legend, who in 1987 died at the age of 58. Invariably, Warhol fans will find it hard to pass up this once-in-a-lifetime exhibit and all of its ancillary events.
“We wanted to shed more light, and we’re doing that in many ways, with tours and lectures and this international symposium we’re having,” Simonian said. “It’s a series of panel discussions featuring curators and artists and people that worked with Warhol and actors and actresses and an artist who is really involved in the fashion world. It should be an extremely lively exchange of ideas.”
The symposium begins with a Keynote Conversation (Nov. 14) featuring critic and Warhol biographer Wayne Koestenbaum, who converses with artist Francesco Vezzoli.
The festivities the following day (Nov. 15) include a slew of high-profile Warhol friends and fans. The list includes Eva Meyer-Hermann (“Other Voices, Other Rooms” curator), Mary Woronov (actress and author), Callie Angell (“Andy Warhol Screen Tests: The Films of Andy Warhol” author), Glenn O’Brien (Interview magazine editorial director), Richard Meyer (art historian) and Thomas Crow (art historian).
“I think there are so many different aspects to Warhol’s persona and to his work, but what really hasn’t been recognized so much -- and this exhibition really reveals to -- is how ahead of his time he was in the use of film and TV,” Simonian said. “The films we have in the show really prefaced reality TV, and he was really the first artist to pick up a camera and shoot some people talking about nothing in particular.
“You really realize this was sort of the first reality TV. The same with audio, he would take a tape recorder and tape Truman Capote conversations at the dinner table. You can hear those.”
What truly epitomizes Warhol’s spirit is the idea that among all of his achievements in life, he has the dubious distinction of being the godfather of reality television. While such a trashy, TV Guide-sounding title might seem cringe-worthy, you know if he were still around, Warhol would wear his designation with pride.
“He was really this person who jumped on every possible medium available, unlike any other artist,” Simonian said. “And his influence is so pervasive today that you almost don’t even realize it. Obviously he's recognized as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, but I think people who visit his exhibition, which really showcases everything he did, will see more than just a Campbell's Soup can on the wall.
“He was really this person who jumped on every possible medium available, unlike any other artist,” Simonian said. “And his influence is so pervasive today that you almost don’t even realize it. Obviously he's recognized as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, but I think people who visit his exhibition, which really showcases everything he did, will see more than just a Campbell's Soup can on the wall.
“And you’ll see Campbell’s Soup cans, but you’ll see it in context of the films he was working on at the time and you sort of realize it all fits together. For Warhol, it was all part of the world that he wanted to mine.”
