ANDY WARHOL/SUPERNOVA: Stars, Deaths, and Disasters, 1962-1964
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
ANDY WARHOL/SUPERNOVA: Stars, Deaths, and Disasters, 1962-1964 Details
In the age of mass media, American culture has displayed an unequaled fascination with both celebrities and disasters. Andy Warhol was one of the first artists to investigate these twin obsessions, beginning in the mid-1960s, as he shifted his practice from hand-painting to the mechanical photo silkscreen process. Andy Warhol/Supernova brings together more than 50 examples of the artist's early silkscreen work, juxtaposing his iconic serial images of Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Elvis Presley with his evocative and often disturbing appropriations of car crashes, electric chairs, and other "disasters," appropriated from photojournalism and made side by side. The combination provides a glimpse into a prevailing condition of American modernity--this dual fascination with fame and tragedy--that remains a key component of our national identity. Looking back at this body of masterworks, now some 40 years old, it becomes clear that if some things have changed, more have stayed the same.
Reviews
The catalogue for an exhibition held 3 years ago at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, this book is, to my knowledge, the most complete study of Warhol's most important bodies of works, all painted in the 1960's and revolving around the idea of celebrity and death (the Death and Disasters series, the Jackie Kennedy, Liz Tailor and Marilyn Monroe series). The text, sometimes arduous, sometimes exciting, is insightful and opens new fields of study on the famous pop artist. Above all, the reproductions are wonderful (which is seldom the case for a book on Warhol)and make this catalogue an indispensable addition to the Warhol literature.
