PRESS RELEASE August 9, 2004

Exhibition examines Warhol themes and contemporary influence

The Salina Art Center, 242 S. Santa Fe presents Commodities, Celebrities, Death & Disaster: Andy Warhol, Michael Bevilacqua, Yasumasa Morimura, Lucinda Devlin, opening September 12 and running through October 31. The show is centered around examples of Andy Warhol’s classic Pop works from the 1960s and 1970s that explore the themes identified in the title, and includes works by contemporary artists whose concerns echo and extend these themes.

Andy Warhol, who died in 1987, rose to fame in the 1960s after spending time in New York as a successful commercial artist and illustrator. Warhol did not invent his subject matter; he took it over, ready-made from pre-existing mass media and advertising sources. Warhol sought out celebrity for himself in a way artists had generally not done before -- Warhol, the “artist” became Warhol, the “public personality.” While it’s true that many artists today shy away from the limelight, other contemporary artists do seek celebrity and the attention of the media in order to project a public persona that becomes a part of their art.

The curators of Commodities, Celebrities, Death & Disaster, Dr. David Cateforis, Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Kansas, and Saralyn Reece Hardy, director of the Salina Art Center, were interested in examining the lasting influence of Warhol’s precedent-setting work in the 60s. They selected three themes around which to organize Warhol’s work, and chose three contemporary artists investigating those same themes today.

The first theme, consumerism, is represented by Warhol’s work using advertising logos and brand name products that reflect the American capitalist system’s promotion of consumption through advertising. Examples on display include a stamped sheet of S & H Green Stamps, a sculpture of a Heinz Tomato Ketchup box, and a series of prints of Campbell’s Soup cans, the image for which the artist is probably most famous.

Michael Bevilacqua is a contemporary painter whose crisply-designed and graphically bold works incorporate brand name logos a la Warhol, but he does not use middle-class consumables, instead appropriating high-end logos like those of Gucci and Yves St. Laurent, mixing these with the names of pop and rock bands like The Clash and Oasis, along with images from the work of other contemporary artists like Matthew Barney.

“Where Andy Warhol made a virtue out of boredom and the everyday, Bevilacqua mixes these sophisticated elements together and the result is that the paintings resonate in an aesthetically rich and complex way,” says co-curator Dr. Cateforis.

Celebrities, the show’s second theme, is represented by Warhol’s photo-based portraits, originating from photographs that were usually printed in magazines, then transferred to paintings and prints. Included are images of Hollywood stars Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe, as well as Jackie Kennedy. These celebrities are packaged and promoted in much the same manner as brand-name consumer products. Warhol appropriates these celebrity images, recontextualizing and reflecting them back to audiences, not in advertising or a Hollywood movie, but as works of art.

Japanese photographer Yasumasa Morimura echos Warhol’s fascination with celebrity. Morimura -- most famous for restaging European paintings by old masters, taking on the role of the figures in the paintings himself -- in this exhibition impersonates European and American film stars Catherine Deneuve, Audrey Hepburn, and Marlene Dietrich in a series of photographs that cross cultural, racial, and gender boundaries, opening these areas up to question, and representing the influence of western culture on Japan.

The images of Jackie Kennedy after her husband’s assassination not only speak to the concept of celebrity, but also represent the third theme of the show. Warhol’s Death and Disaster works include images of car crashes, suicides, atomic mushroom clouds, race riots and electric chairs – and it is the last two subjects that are represented in this exhibition. These prints highlight conflict, death, and the response to death, as newsworthy events.

Photographer Lucinda Devlin’s documentary images of empty execution chambers and other areas associated with capital punishment are the perfect compliment to Warhol’s images of death and disaster. Cateforis comments, “She designed the images to confront the viewer with concrete physical spaces. She doesn’t preach, but simply presents the spaces in a way that allows viewers to imagine themselves being there. Like Warhol, it is the chilling absence of life that makes the image so powerful.”

Appropriating various images from popular culture, Andy Warhol created paintings, prints, and films, many of which remain icons of 20th-century art. For Cateforis, Warhol’s work “shows a genius that is deceptively simple but profoundly influential.” He did not just create art, he created a whole new way of looking at things and of looking at ourselves. Commodities, Celebrities, Death & Disaster: Andy Warhol, Michael Bevilacqua, Yasumasa Morimura, Lucinda Devlin, exhibits Warhol’s continuing relevance four decades after his most popular works were created.

In addition to an exhibition-related activity in the Art Center’s hands-on space called The Artery, numerous activities are planned in connection with this impressive show. Two gallery walks take place on September 23. At noon Art Center director Saralyn Reece Hardy leads the walk along with Steve Hoekstra, Asst. Professor of Psychology at Kansas Wesleyan University, discussing News As Art. At a 5:30 p.m. walk, Hardy’s topic is Celebrity & Style. On September 25, in conjunction with downtown Salina’s event called Santa Fe Day, free gallery walks are offered at 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. All gallery walks are free and open to the public.

On September 16 at noon and 7:00 p.m., Kansas Wesleyan Professor of Art Brad Anderson presents a talk entitled The Everyday Object Becomes High Art. In a talk on September 30 at noon and at 7:00 p.m., Art Center director Saralyn Reece Hardy expands on the three themes of the show -- commodities, celebrities, death and disaster. And on October 14 at noon and 7:00 p.m., artist Harley Elliott presents a talk about the Warhol’s printmaking called Warhol Multiples. The public talks are free.

The exhibition is also a featured stop on Salina’s art crawl, Art Rush Tonight, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. on September 30. The evening’s entertainment also includes shopping, food, and other fun.

The Salina Art Center presents a symposium, Warhol & Now, on Saturday, October 30. The symposium begins with a panel discussion from 2:00-4:00 p.m. with participants Rachel Epp Butler, Assistant Professor of Art at Bethel College, Glen R. Brown, Associate Professor of Art History at Kansas State University, David Cateforis, co-curator of the exhibition and Associate Professor of Art History at The University of Kansas, and Raechell Smith, Director of H&R Block Artspace. At 5:00 p.m. the Art Center Cinema, 150 S. Santa Fe, presents a documentary film on Andy Warhol. The symposium is free for all students and Art Center members, $5.00 for others. Please call the Art Center at 785-827-1431 to reserve a space.