The “Beyond Warhol...” show features four contemporary artists who interact with the works and legacy of Andy Warhol. Rather than the simple, shorehugging reiteration of the pop style and aesthetic in the fashion of a Jeff Koons, these four artists filter Andy Warhol through their own metaromanti... Read more
The “Beyond Warhol…” show features four contemporary artists who interact with the works and legacy of Andy Warhol. Rather than the simple, shorehugging reiteration of the pop style and aesthetic in the fashion of a Jeff Koons, these four artists filter Andy Warhol through their own metaromantic prism in a strong, provocative and highly subjective manner. They seek to advance the artist’s personal vision, not to negate it. Exploration, both internal and of the world at large, is their chief goal, whether it is reexamining old truths or retrofitting a synthesis of prior methods, styles and ethea with a new vocabulary.
Mel Smothers, from Brooklyn, carries on a painterly dialogue with Warhol in his series “Dear Andy: Postcards from Montauk.” Warhol once said he wanted “to be a machine” and Pindar Van Arman, a Baltimore artist, accommodates him with his artificially intelligent painting robot named Dahupi. Cleveland photographer Peggy Roberts is showing her series of storefront photos that knowingly reference Warhol’s days as a window display designer. In his Warhol Rag Series, Robert Furman, a Chicago sculptor, explores the interplay between video and sculpture where both relate to a common theme. He adopts some of the style of Warhol but adds his own expressionist substance by delving below the pop icons to detrivialize the subject matter—Marilyn Monroe, for example in Warhol Rag 1