Warhol Live
At the de Young Museum
www.famsf.org/deyoung


Exhibition dates: February 14–May 17, 2009

Arguably the most important and influential artist of the 20th century, Andy Warhol is getting his due respect in a massive exhibit opening this Saturday, February 14th, 2009 at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. This morning, we head over for the museum’s press preview and were simply blown away. The exhibit has hit the nail on the head in this multi-media show experience, featuring a mind-blowing collection of the quirky artist’s paintings, screen-prints, album cover artwork, and photographs, as well as continuous film screenings and a recreation of his legendary NYC Silver Factory, all set to music by the Velvet Underground.

Over the course of his meteoric career, Andy Warhol used the medium of music to transform himself from fan, to record album designer, to producer, to celebrity night-clubber, to “rock star.” Warhol Live, at the de Young from February 14 to May 17, 2009, presents the first comprehensive exploration of Andy Warhol’s work as seen through the lens of music.

From 1949, the year he arrived in New York, to 1987, the last year of his life, Warhol illustrated fifty-one album covers, from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake to Aretha Franklin, Count Basie, Artie Shaw, the Velvet Underground, the Rolling Stones, Diana Ross, and Blondie.  The album covers read like a history of postwar American musical tastes, from classical to pop, jazz, soul, rock, disco, and avant-garde genres.

In this show, Andy Warhol’s influence on music and dance is exemplified by his artwork, interaction, and production with some of the most influential music acts of our time, including pop music royalty: Elvis Presley, the Velvet Underground, Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, Liza Minnelli, Grace Jones, Deborah Harry of Blondie, and Michael Jackson. What is intriguing, however, is the extent which the music and musicians, in turn, had on Warhol’s other personal and commercial artwork. A visual dialogue between medium ensues and this show does and excellent job of exemplifying how intermingled and prolific both Warhol and the groups with which he worked truly changed and shaped the face of a generation.

The major Warhol silkscreen paintings, films and sound recordings, album covers, illustrations, and photographs inspired by music and the performing arts provide a visual and aural score to Warhol’s extraordinary work and life.

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