Art

Andy Warhol Exhibition – A is for Andy

By Veron Ang | Tags #Mohamed Sultan

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An exhibition featuring the late pop artist Andy Warhol is happening at Mohamed Sultan Road. I had marked down the dates on my calendar the moment I heard that it is coming to Singapore. Yes, that’s how excited I was!

A is for Andy: An Andy Warhol Exhibition

Event: A is for Andy
Date: November 17-18, 2007
Time: 10am – 10pm
Venue: 72-13 Mohamed Sultan Road

Free admission

Warhol is one of the pioneers of pop art, a phenomenon that emerged in the 1950s. Pop art is a form of art that employs imagery from everyday life, such as consumer products and famous people. Titled “A is for Andy“, this exhibition features 116 of Warhol’s original paintings, worth US$15 million!

For those of you who may not be familiar with Warhol, here are some examples of his more known pieces.

Marilyn Monroe silkscreen painting, by Andy Warhol

His famous silkscreen painting series of Marilyn Monroe, the epitome of beauty, was done 5 years after her untimely death. Each of the prints has been called “an icon of an icon created by an icon”. This is also my personal favorite from Warhol.

Campbell's Soup I silkscreen painting, by Andy Warhol

Of course, who can forget his series of 32 Campbell’s soup cans? Each painting in the series features a unique flavor of Campbell’s soup. Why Campbell’s soup? Because Warhol had it for lunch everyday for twenty years!

Mao Zedong silkscreen painting, by Andy Warhol

The exhibition has been open for private viewing for a week. One of the first paintings to be sold is this series of 10 paintings of the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong in different colors.

The Factory, Andy Warhol's studio

The Factory was the studio where Warhol did his silkscreens and hanged out with friends.

This replica of The Factory also happens to be one of the very few things I could photograph at the exhibition. Why? Because there is a “no photography” policy. To prevent copyright infringement, it seems (or else they would have stated “no flash photography”). They have security guards stationed at every corner to make sure the rule isn’t violated.

I find this extremely ironic. Warhol himself must have violated several copyrights and trademarks to create the amazing works that he did, from reproducing photographs of famous people to drawing trademarked characters such as Mickey Mouse and superman. Subjecting admirers to the very rule that had been tossed out the window to create the art in the first place is a pretty damn ridiculous move of the exhibitor.

But I digress.

The exhibition is happening for two days at the 72-13 (Theatreworks) art gallery. Be sure to catch it while you can. Have a cold Belgian beer next door while you’re at it :)

Interesting trivia: Do you know where the expression “15 minutes of fame” came from?

In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.

Warhol famously said this in 1968. It was then paraphrased into the widely-used expression. There you go!

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About the Author

Veron Ang is the founder and chief editor of Sparklette. She lives in Singapore and has dined and traveled across the world. She also runs Sparklette Studio, a web design and WordPress development firm. If you'd like to connect with her, head on over to the contact page or follow her personal updates on Twitter: @VeronSG.

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14 responses

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py
November 18, 2007

This is one exhibition worth a watch, and 18 Nov (today) is the last day that it will be opened to members of the public.

I was there early this afternoon. Maybe it is because I am biased….my favourite work was the one featuring Beethoven.

Those works seem to cost quite a bit. I overheard that one of works featuring marilyn monroe has a minimum auction price of $250 000!
Reply
py
November 18, 2007

I’ve put a llink to this post from my main blog, if you don’t mind.
Reply
py
November 18, 2007

Hope you would have a restful weekend to recharge.
Reply
astro
November 18, 2007

In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.

Just curious, in what context did he made the above quote?
Reply
malique
November 18, 2007

i was there last week, dropped by after work and was told that the organizers spent a bomb on the exhibition. and theres no fee to enter. i was amazed!

hail the king of popart. long live campbell.
Reply
precious
November 18, 2007

To be honest, Andy Warhol’s one of those artists I don’t quite get. He ate campbell soup for 20 years and painted 32 of them? Wouldn’t that be like me eating maggie mee for 20 years and blogging about it every day consecutively for a whole month?

Hmm… come to think of it, may be that *will* make a good blog. Review of maggie flavors, lol!
Reply
Veron
November 18, 2007

py: Heh. We both prefer the pieces with our favorite famous people. I would totally kill to have a piece of Warhol’s Marilyn on my wall! At a quarter of a million dollars for an original Warhol, I’ll have to go for a poster version instead.

astro: Warhol had the idea that with media, anyone could be made famous. Just look at bloggers and social networks these days. It clearly shows that Warhol was right and way ahead of his days!

malique: He has also been called the “Pope of Pop”! I’m not surprised that there’s no admission fee. The exhibition was held mainly to sell the pieces.

precious: It is pop art after all, which derives imagery from everyday scenes and familiar objects.
Reply
Miccheng
November 18, 2007

Nice…
Reply
Joyz
November 18, 2007

Hi Veron, to further feed your interest for Andy Warhol, there will be another upcoming art show at a gallery at Jalan Kilang Barat in Mar’08. Do look out for it!
Reply
Veron
November 19, 2007

Thanks babe. I’ll be sure to keep a lookout for it. Can’t get enough of Warhol!
Reply
Jerome Larken
November 4, 2008

Andy Warhol was a cool cat! Did you guys know he once produced a movie called ‘sleep’, which showed someone sleeping for 6 hours straight?? An you thought the Titanic was difficult to sit through! Lol!

http://www.free-art-images.com/andy_warhol.html
Reply
Veron
November 4, 2008

I looked up on Sleep. The actor was his boyfriend at that time! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187513/

And hey, Titanic was good!
Reply
poker kid
October 15, 2009

nice i think this shows the best of andy and i am drawing most of these in my course wrk 4 gcse art
Reply