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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Death is Hippest
Wednesday 07 December @ 21:03:24 |
 by Christopher Koza
There is a limit to what textbook reproductions can do to convey the true value and spectacle of historically invaluable works of art. The current exhibit at the Walker Art Center brings to life 26 selections from Andy Warhol, whose real-life works in this display are often massive and captivating.
Andy Warhol/Supernova: Stars, Deaths and Disasters, 1962-1964 is a brief sprinkling of the subjects that obsessed Warhol and monopolized his output during these years. In the case of the Walker exhibit—which will also travel to Chicago and then later to Ontario—these stars are not minor, nor are their deaths silent or peaceful. “Disaster” doesn’t recognize celebrity—it condemns everyone equally—and Warhol shows that gruesome and tragic death afflicts both icons and unknowns.
 Taken
from newspaper photo archives, magazines such as Life and celebrity publicity
stills, Warhol places utmost importance on the selection of his subjects, and
from there manipulates these images to his stylistic favor, all the while exaggerating
the honest and haunting aspects. “Saturday Disaster” is a picture
of an obviously fatal car accident twice printed on a large canvas. Warhol is
deliberate in choosing the imposing size and tragic subject. By controlling
the contrast of the printing, he requires the viewer to stare even longer at
the image to organize and identify specifics, all the while knowing what the
search will inevitably reveal.
For celebrity subjects, Warhol picked true legends from only the most relevant
and harrowed. Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Onasis and Marilyn Monroe
had few equals, especially to Warhol, who instead of giving us hundreds of images
of different subjects, used multiples of the same image surrounded by itself.
“Marilyn Monroe's Lips” are two dizzying canvases each with 84 sets
of the starlet's desirable lips. Warhol takes something once living and beautiful
and pimps it out as necrophilia, confronting unforgiving voyeurs and honest
citizens with an overwhelming display of glamorized mortality.
Although there are 26 works included in this show, it doesn’t seem like
enough, especially when considering the general public’s cyclical fascination
with all things Warhol. Because of their fundamental social implications, pieces
like “Race Riot” and “Twelve Electric Chairs” warrant
entire exhibitions themselves. Here, it’s tough for anything, even brutal
death, to compare to the timeless icons of a past generation. Warhol simply
purports that there is nothing shocking about this morbid curiosity except for
a public that tends to celebrate its horror and obliterate its privacy.
There is no comparable alternative to viewing in person, the famed works by
one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. ||
Andy Warhol/Supernova: Stars, Deaths and Disasters 1962–1964
is on display through Feb. 26 at the Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave.,
Mpls., 612-375-7600. Gallery hours are Tue–Wed. & Sat.–Sun.
11 a.m.–5 p.m.; Thu.–Fri. 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Closed Mondays.
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