An Iconic Figure of American Pop Culture Andy Warhol in Kaohsiung / 美國普普文化的代表人物 安迪．沃荷在高雄
An Iconic Figure of American Pop Culture Andy Warhol in Kaohsiung
◎Text by Hsin-Yi Peng
◎Photos courtesy of Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Chung-Hui Pao
The "Pope of Pop - Andy Warhol World Tour Exhibition" is an event put together by a Spanish management company in honor of the late Andy Warhol's 80th birthday. It shows many art pieces borrowed from European and American museum collections. Taiwan had the honor of hosting the grand opening of the exhibition's Asian tour. The exhibition was received with much enthusiasm when it opened in Taipei earlier this year. Now, the exhibition is in Kaohsiung. From now until the 18th of May, the "Pope of Pop - Andy Warhol World Tour Exhibition" is here at Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in its full splendor.
Andy Warhol (1928~1987) is the most important icon in pop art. His appeal as a dazzling, mystifying man in contemporary art history is no less than the legendary Pablo Picasso. As an accomplished artist, Andy Warhol excelled in many different art forms and was also a popular figure in real life. His talent was shown in his paintings as well as his avant-garde movies, records and many other platforms. He was also a well recognized writer and a celebrity, and was highly influential in both the fields of art and fashion.
In his early days, Andy Warhol worked as an illustrator for several fashion magazines in New York. His work won several awards, and eventually, he had his own personal exhibition in New York. In the fifties, he experimented with oil painting. In the sixties, he created a series of silk screen printed portraits of celebrities -Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor, to name a few. His theme prints, such as the 82 dollar bills, the 12 Campbell Soup cans, and the 210 bottles of Coca Cola brought much discussion and controversy. The impact of Andy Warhol's work in visual art and media design continues to this day.
"Duplication" is a distinguished theme in Andy Warhol's work that sets him apart from the concept of art in the past. He believed adamantly that art and commercialism are not, and should not be, completely separated. His mass production of duplicated art pieces featuring celebrity images and commercial icons became a phenomenon due to his commercial and marketing strategy. In a few short years, he turned around the old stereotypical concepts about art and broke through the boundaries that used to separate design, advertisement, media, and commercialism. He left his mark on the future generations of contemporary artists, as well as the concept and methods of visual delivery and media design.
This exhibition includes more than 120 pieces of Andy Warhol's most representative original work on different media from different periods; from the 1950s when he had just begun to form his own style, up to the 1980s. The exhibition also features a series of some 30 candid portraits of the artist shot in the year 1975 by Italian photographer Dino Pedriali. The audience will enjoy a glimpse of the unique glamour of the superstar artist, as well as the charm of pop art.
美國普普文化的代表人物
安迪．沃荷 在高雄
◎文／林昀熹
◎照片提供／高雄市立美術館、鮑忠暉
為紀念安迪‧沃荷80歲誕辰所策畫的「普普教父─安迪‧沃荷世界巡迴展」，由西班牙的藝術策畫公司籌畫、並向歐美的收藏單位借展，亞洲巡迴首站選在台灣。今年年初在台北展覽獲得熱烈迴響，在高雄市政府全力支持與文化局的積極爭取之下，展覽得以移師高雄。即日起到５月18日，「普普教父─安迪．沃荷世界巡迴展」就在高雄市立美術館完整呈現！
安迪．沃荷（Andy Warhol,1928～1987）是普普藝術中最具代表性的人物，也是現代藝術史上最耀眼、最具傳奇性的藝術家之一，其重要性不亞於畢卡索。安迪．沃荷生前活躍於多重藝術與社交圈，不但是畫家，也拍攝前衛電影、製作唱片，還是個作家與社交名人，事實上，安迪．沃荷影響力橫掃藝術與流行界。
安迪．沃荷最早是紐約多份時尚雜誌的插畫家，作品不但受到獎項肯定，還在紐約舉行畫展；五十年代開始創作油畫，六十年代則以瑪麗蓮．夢露、貓王、伊利莎白．泰勒等人的照片，製作絹印肖像，其中以82張美鈔、12罐湯廚罐頭、210罐可口可樂為主題的版畫，受到藝壇的熱烈討論。時至今日，安迪．沃荷仍持續影響藝術創作、視覺創作、媒體設計等領域。
「複製」是其作品中一個有別於過往藝術品的重要概念，同時他也認為藝術不應該與商業脫鉤，就這樣，他運用名人與商品圖像、量產與複製的方式，以及商業上的行銷手法，短短數年內，翻轉了藝術世界的許多傳統定見，打破藝術與設計、廣告、媒體、商業等領域的界限，並影響後世各種現代藝術、視覺傳達與媒體設計的理念與手法。
此次展出120多件安迪‧沃荷的原作，包含其自1950年代發跡至1980年代期間各個時期、不同媒材的代表作品。此外，由義大利攝影師迪諾‧佩德里亞力(Dino Pedriali)在1975年側近安迪‧沃荷所拍攝的一系列30多幅紀實照片，也一起展出，讓觀眾亦能感受這位藝術巨匠的獨具風采與普普藝術的魅力。