Andy Warhol
Malba-Fundación Costantini, Buenos Aires
A great success of attendance, the traveling exhibition Andy Warhol. Mr. America, at Malba-Fundación Costantini, coincided with the sale of 200 One Dollar Bills (1962), auctioned by Sotheby’s for 43 million dollars; a smaller, cross-shaped version of the same work was featured at the Buenos Aires show. Curated by Philip Larratt-Smith and organized in collaboration with the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, the exhibition comprises 170 works − dated between 1961 and 1968 − and includes dramatic self-portraits of the artist as a drag queen (wearing blonde, chestnut and dark hair wigs and portrayed as a young girl with disturbing expressions) and a selection from the Screen Tests produced in his studio at The Factory.
At “the factory”, the artist and businessman experimented with serigraphy, installations, filmmaking, media art, and photography, together with the members of his circle, assistants who executed the works. In 1968, one of the hangers-on at “The Factory” shot Warhol, an acknowledged star who experienced the physical and emotional fragility of his worshipped Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy, and Liz Taylor, whom he portrayed extensively.
It is difficult to separate the work from the figure of the influ- ential Andy Warhol (1928-1987), who drew inspiration from the “American dream” and whose strategy was reproduction and repetition. His work is associated to the celebration of con- sumer society, to his interest in death and disaster and in the glamour of show business stars. A rush of pure adrenaline, Warhol reproduced electric chairs, scenes of car accidents and political demonstrations. He portrayed cans of Campbell Soup, Coca-Cola bottles or boxes of Brillo soap, as well as the faces of famous people or of the “most wanted men” (most wanted by the Law), which also means the “most desirable”. With the serialization of the images of the notorious, Warhol − who augured that everyone would have their 15 minutes of fame − contributed to the creation of a cult of celebrities, transforming them − and himself − into media phenomena.
