Andy Warhol Tate Exhibition

The Tate Modern’s Andy Warhol exhibition was originally set to run from 12th March 2020 - September 2020, but like most things this year, the Tate has had to shut its doors indefinitely. The creative industry is uniquely prepared to deal with adversities and unforeseen circumstances, and since the outset of COVID closures, many theatres and galleries have moved a selection of their shows and exhibitions to the virtual world, and the aforementioned Andy Warhol exhibition is one of them.

The exhibition aims to ‘return to the man’ of Andy Warhol and find the root of the ‘fears and desires that drove him to create art’.

The virtual exhibition begins with some background on Warhol's early life - born in 1928 in Pittsburgh to Slovakian parents and raised in what he referred to as the ‘czech ghetto’ - and a document detailing his parents entry to the country. It is an interesting perspective into how his parents immigration from (what is now) Slovakia influenced Warhol, and how he expressed this through his early artworks, such as Mortal Coil.

After learning about Warhol’s family and creative beginnings, the exhibition leans more towards his LGBTQ+ identity and how it influenced his art, particularly early on in his artistic career. Many of his works during this time featured men he was interested in or attracted to, and within these works there is a vulnerable honesty that reflects an ultimate want for personal integrity and acceptance. There is intense bravery in living as an openly gay man in America in the 1950’s, and much of Warhols early work is reflective of his thoughts and feelings toward this at the time.

As the 1960’s hit, Andy Warhol hit his stride and became known in the public eye, and after moving into ‘The Factory’ he began to create some of his most well known pieces - Marilyn Diptych (1962), Silver Clouds (1966) and Campbell’s Soup Cans (1962) - and became the pioneer of pop art that we know today.

The exhibition also provides information on the 1968 attempt on Warhol's life by radical feminist Valerie Solanas, with a copy of her book and some back story as to why she shot Warhol. (She was unable to find her publisher, whom was the original recipient of the bullet, and instead switched to Warhol because he had ‘too much control over her life’) Experts claim that Warhol was never the same after the attempt on his life, as the bullet ‘hit every major organ except his heart’ and as a result Warhol suffered extensive scarring. This had a major influence on his art and signifies the shift between his work being about pop culture to have more darker themes of morality, self image, religion and death.

Reflective of many of the themes that Warhol touched upon in his career is one of his final pieces, 1986 piece Sixty Last Suppers, which unites previous themes of male socialisation, death, morality and religion within the looming floor to ceiling work. It is interesting to note, that at the point this piece was created, New York was at the height of the AIDS pandemic which claimed the life of many of his friends, and also his partner. The deep melancholy of grief is perfectly represented within the bleak looking monochrome piece which famously depicts Jesus on the eve of his death.

Overall the exhibition achieves its goal of wishing to expose more of the man behind some of modern arts most famous works. Warhol’s life and experiences greatly impacted how he expressed himself through his art, and it is fascinating to learn a relatively unknown story that is still achingly relevant today.