Andy Warhol will be the POP star of the new show ‘Andy Warhol’ at Tate Modern in London, opening Thursday 12th March – 6th September 2020.

Where he will definitely have more than, everyones, fifteen minutes of fame.

It is over twenty years since there has been such an exhibition of his works in London. Included in the 100 objects to be shown, are many of his classic iconic images of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Campbell soup cans and Coca-Cola bottles all with his take on 20th century culture. There will be a selection of never before seen emphatic male drawings from private collections. These have always been seen to be “too provocative” and celebrate the artist’s many contributions to the gay community of the time.

Also featuring is a group of portraits titled “Ladies and Gentlemen”. These are a series of images taken from photograph’s by Warhol of black and latino drag queens and trans women at the “Gilded Grape” bar in Greenwich Village. This series was first exhibited in Italy at the Palazzo di Diamante, Ferrara in 1975.

Warhol said in “The philosophy of Andy Warhol” that  “Drag queens are living testimony to the way women used to want to be, the way some people want them to be, and the way some women still actually want to be. Drags are ambulatory archives of ideal movie star womanhood.”

The “Exploding Plastic Inevitable – Spectacle” toured as a multi media show, which led to Warhol stepping into the world of pop music and where he cultivated the career of the rock band The Velvet Underground, designing a lot of their album covers and posters. The Rolling Stones also featured in some of his work in this exciting new arena along with the likes of Lou Reed and the charismatic German singer Nico.

One of the highest prices paid for a piece of art work in the US is Warhol’s serigraph called “Silver Car Crash (double disaster)” made in 1963. It is 8 by 13 feet and sold for US$ 105million at auction in November 2013 by Sotheby’s. Previously the record paid for a Warhol serigraph was US $100 million for “Eight Elvises” in 2008.

There is a permanent collection of his works in the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburg his home town. The extensive archive of his work is the largest museum dedicated to the work of one artist in the U.S. The curators and staff of the museum in Pittsburgh published a book with Thames & Hudson in 2004  called ”Andy Warhol 365 Takes” which in 365 images summarizes his work and influences and documents some of the people important to him.

“When I did my self-portrait, I left all the pimples out because you always should. Pimples are a temporary condition and they don’t  have anything to do with what you really look like.”

A new biography is being published in the UK on 5th March to coincide with this Exhibition. “Warhol – A life as Art” author Blake Gopnik describes it as a definitive book on one of the most famous and influential artists of the 20th century.

Expect to be blown away.

ANDY WARHOL
12 MARCH – 6 SEPTEMBER 2020

https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/andy-warhol

GRAHAM FRASER Queerguru’s Culture, Fashion and Arts  Correspondent was once half of the award winning fashion designer duo WORKERS FOR FREEDOM. Years spent working in the luxury end of International fashion he now lives with his partner the artist RICHARD NOTT and their two Cavapoos Albert and Raf in a stunning renovated 1950’s house on the edge of the Sussex Downs with distant sea views.