Andy Warhol: Gun (silver ground), 1981-2 (detail)
Synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen ink on canvas
© The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts
ARS New York, DACS London, 177.8 x 228.6cm.
Photo courtesy of Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
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Andy Warhol: Art, Death and Ame
SCOTLAND
EDINBURGH • Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art • Ongoing
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Warhol chose celebrities (Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor), brands and objects (Campbell’s Soup, Brillo pads, the dollar bill) and sensational newspaper photographs (car crashes, suicides, race riots) as his subjects.
The works in this display are from the 1970s and 1980s---seen by many as a time when Warhol had lost his cutting edge.
The themes that emerge strongly from this display, are death, America and art. The theme of death always loomed large in Warhol’s work since 1962, when he painted >129 Die in Jet, based on a newspaper photograph of a plane crash. In this exhibit, skull paintings, Self-Portrait (Strangulation) and Gun all attest to this intensified obsession with violence and mortality.
Another theme that Warhol continued to explore was America, its myths and icons. This show includes 10 Brillo Box sculptures, as well as paintings of the dollar sign, hamburgers and the Statue of Liberty. Portraits of artists, such as Julian Schnabel and Gilbert and George, introduce the theme of art, again a subject that obsessed Warhol.
To compliment the paintings and sculptures a group of stitched photographs is also included.
This display forms part of A Year of American Art at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. It looks forward to and provides a wider context for the major exhibition Andy Warhol: Self-Portraits (12 February to 2 May 2005).
National Galleries of Scotland Web Site
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