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PEOPLE & ARTS Monday 27 May 2019

California show explores Warhol’s social, tech foreshadowing

By KATIE OYAN said. She took 300 pic-
Associated Press tures, looking playful, pen-
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Be- sive and everything in be-
fore Instagram and Face- tween.
book, before selfies and “From that, he makes this
filters that perfect selfies, painting,” De Salvo said:
there was Andy Warhol, us- “Ethel Scull 36 Times,” a
ing his art to imbue friends, brightly colored montage
family, celebrities — even of images that anticipated
himself — with a certain modern-day selfies and Ins-
mystique. tagram posts.
A retrospective of War- “You feel each moment,”
hol’s work on display in San De Salvo said. “I think it’s re-
Francisco captures the art- ally one of Warhol’s great
ist’s ability to use paintings, commissioned portraits.”
drawings, photographs Warhol went on to do hun-
and other mediums to cre- dreds of portraits. They pro-
ate buzz-worthy personas vide a window into his so-
the way people do now us- cial network, which includ-
ing social media. ed friends, family members,
The idea of personal lovers, musicians, actors,
branding, “of how we can athletes and world leaders.
be who we want to be,” De Salvo also notes the
was something Warhol was In this photo taken Wednesday, May 15, 2019, a woman views commissioned portraits from 1968- “multiplicity of images” in
trading on more than a 1987 at the exhibition, “Andy Warhol From A to B and Back Again” in San Francisco. Warhol’s work.q
half-century ago, said Don- Associated Press
na De Salvo, deputy direc- which he touches on key
tor for international initia- themes from his work, such
tives and senior curator at as celebrity, money and
New York’s Whitney Muse- love. The artist died in 1987
um of American Art, where at age 58.
the exhibit originated . “He De Salvo said the San
had a real understanding Francisco museum’s team
of something about Ameri- “really enlightened me in
can culture, which is now terms of thinking about
more global.” Warhol through the lens of
“Andy Warhol — From A to social media.”
B and Back Again” opened It’s a common thread
this week at the San Fran- throughout the show.
cisco Museum of Modern “When you see some of
Art and runs through Sept. the rooms, particularly the
2. It includes more than 300 portraits, we really concep-
works spanning Warhol’s tualized it in a way of think-
40-year career. ing about Facebook,” she
The show features some said.
of the artist’s most iconic Warhol’s understanding
creations — depictions of of the power of images to
Campbell’s soup cans and create identity and aura
Brillo boxes, for instance, can be traced to his early
and silkscreen portraits of years, after he moved to
Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn New York in 1949 and got
Monroe, Elvis Presley and a job as a commercial il-
others — along with lesser- lustrator. He did work for
known pieces from his early publications such as Ma-
and later years. It next trav- demoiselle and Glamour
els to the Art Institute of magazine.
Chicago. “That idea of marketing
“Warhol is constantly la- and all the things we take
beled a pop artist, but for granted was just some-
all that happened within thing Warhol was immersed
three or four years, and in,” De Salvo said. “And
then he moved on and he was just such a sponge
the work goes quite dark in his capacity to absorb
and explores questions of things.”
gender and sexual identity, In 1963, he was commis-
fame, subcultures,” said sioned to do his first portrait,
Gary Garrels, Elise S. Haas of modern-art collector
senior curator of painting Ethel Redner Scull.
and sculpture for the San The artist took Scull to a
Francisco museum. photo booth in New York,
The show’s title comes from gave her a stack of coins
Warhol’s 1975 memoir in and said, “Pose,” Garrels