The largest collection of iconic works by Andy Warhol is on display at ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands on the 25th anniversary of the artist’s death. The exhibition, sponsored by BNY Mellon and organized by The Andy Warhol Museum in Warhol’s home town of Pittsburgh, chronicles the breadth of Warhol’s career and demonstrates the scope of his interests. Titled after a quote from the popular artist himself, “In the future, everybody will be world-famous for fifteen minutes”, Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal features over 260 paintings, drawings, sculptures, film, and video of the legendary artist’s works, marking the first time such an extensive collection is exhibited in Singapore. The exhibition is also accompanied by a wide range of associated documents, interactive timelines, photographs, and archival material.
.Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal features his masterpieces including Jackie (1964), Marilyn Monroe (1967), Campbell’s Soup (1961), Silver Liz (1963), Time Capsule 51 (1970’s), The Last Supper (1986), and numerous iconic Self-Portraits.
The exhibition will present an extensive range of important artworks from the various phases of his artistic career.
1. “Early Years” – 1940s to 1950s This gallery introduces Andy Warhol and the early influences in his art. It showcases his drawings as a child, his first artworks as a commercial artist and the blotted line technique he created
2. “The Factory Years” – 1960s The 1960’s marked Warhol’s transition from commercial art to business art. It was during this time that he created the iconic masterpieces of the Campbell’s Soup Can and portraits of celebrities such as Liz Taylor and Marilyn Monroe. Films by Warhol also are presented within this gallery, showcasing his diverse talents. A separate space is dedicated to recreating the Silver Factory, Warhol’s studio in the 1960’s in New York which was entirely covered with foil. To provide an interesting interactive experience, the space features costumes for visitors to dress up and be “a star for 15 minutes”, a photo booth to capture the experience, a reproduction of the couch from the Silver Factory from which visitors can enjoy his avant garde films, and the whimsical Silver Clouds (1966) piece made of floating helium balloons.
3. “Exposures” – 1970s During the 70’s, Warhol’s celebrated use of Polaroids in photographing celebrities came to prominence. During this time, Andy Warhol focused on commissioned portraits to fund his interest in experimental film. This shift in focus is evident in the genre of art works on display such as advertisements and silverprint photographs, which reflect Warhol’s fascination with fame and glamour. It is also during this time that he started creating time capsules which contained meaningful items collected from the various periods of his life. Out of the over 600 time capsules Warhol created throughout his lifetime, visitors are able to view one that contains over 50 magazines and books.
4. “The Last Supper” – 1980s Having reached the pinnacle of success in the art world, Warhol ventured into television media with Andy Warhol’s T.V. and Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes which visitors are able to watch in this exhibition space. The diversity of his last decade of creation includes such works as the Endangered Species series, Rorschach series and Oxidation Paintings. The exhibition concludes with The Last Supper and Self Portrait, two iconic masterpieces he created at the very end of his life that are monumental in both scale and the impact they had in the art industry.
To cater to young art enthusiasts, a special display for children has been created based on a similar exhibition Andy Warhol did in 1983 at Bruno Bischofberger gallery in Switzerland. Visitors young and old view art from a child’s perspective – toy paintings are displayed at a lower eye level.
This is the first time this form of viewing has been specially commissioned in Singapore.
More Details:Singapore-Museum/Whats-On/
Detail of the Last Supper, c.1986 Print by Andy Warhol.
