Andy Warhol: a pure artist. He always kept a Polaroid on him, instantly capturing everything that had an effect on him. Within these fixed, suspended moments, he garnered the sketches for his paintings. They say that throughout his career, he released thousands of photographs in this way. And now, for the first time, a number of these shots will be put up for all to see. Taken at the twilight of a stupefying career, at the precise moment when Warhol’s interest in photography was growing, these Polaroid shots were taken during real, everyday scenes, without any retouching or staging.
Andy Warhol: celebrities’ biggest fan. For him, painting or photographing the stars of his era was a way to enshrine these symbolic heros. In fact, Andy Warhol saw himself as the equivalent of painters who worked for monarchies or the Church. When the Andy Warhol Foundation for visual arts released some of his shots in 2008, they offered them up to university galleries across the U.S. This is how photos, taken in intimate settings, showing Liza Minnelli, Diana Ross, Debbie Harry, Sting, and Elizabeth Taylor, but also a series of self-portraits mixing silver prints and Polaroids will make their way to the New York Design Center. Six women and six male portraits in all were selected for the showing, including one entitled “The Last Supper”. The subjects include, among others, dancer Martha Graham and hockey player Wayne Gretzky. It’s the perfect occasion to discover the relationship between Warhol’s fascination for celebrity and his everyday life.
It’s all taking place at the New York Design Center, starting September 3rd.
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