The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2020 - Issue 27

bite exhibition him. He realised he could increase the commercial produc- tivity of his art more quickly by getting others involved in the process. At the exhibition, you will feast your eyes on Warhol’s 1962 Marilyn Diptych; 1963/64 Elvis I and II; and 1964 Pink Race Riot creations which are examined concerning con- temporary issues around American culture and politics. His famous Screen Tests in 1964-66 pushed the traditional boundaries of media while a recreation of the psychedelic multimedia environment of Exploding Plastic Inevitable in 1966 was originally preserved for the Velvet Underground rock shows. Visitors will be intrigued by his floating 1966 Silver Clouds installation that was initially meant to signal his ‘retirement’ from painting in favour of moviemaking. Using one of his quotes which says, “Good business is the best art” the ex- hibition looks at how Warhol’s forays into publishing and TV, as well as his interest in club culture, can be viewed as an attempt to bring the stars of the underground into the mainstream. He produced several films including Chelsea Girls, Blow Job, Empire, and My Hustler. After radical feminist and author Valerie Solanas attempted to murder Warhol in 1968 at The Factory, he returned to large-scale painting projects. At the exhibition, you will see how his skills as a painter and colourist are emphasised with a room dedicated to the largest grouping of his 1975 La- dies and Gentlemen series. The portraits depict anonymous Black and Latino drag queens and trans women from New York, including Marsha P. Johnson who protested for gay rights at the 1969 Stonewall riots. His final works of the 1980s include the poignant 1986 Sixty Last Suppers which is on view at Tate Modern for the first time in the UK. It is considered in relation to Warhol’s un- timely death in 1987 as well as the unfolding HIV/AIDS epidemic, which ultimately impacted the lives of many in his close circle. Other works include the 1955-57 Boy with Flowers which shows a pencilled side profile of a male with a vase of flowers in the background. His 1986 Self Portrait shows Warhol’s face in red against a black background with unkempt hair, while his Flowers drawing (a subject which he drew inspiration from time to time) portrays red and orange daisies on a backdrop of grass. The Hammer and Sickle painting looks like it was a representation of his political views, a symbol originally conceived during the Russian Revolution, but later adopt- ed by left-wing labour movements in Italy and elsewhere in graffiti, although he never made clear his views. The beautiful Debbie Harry is displayed in one of Warhol’s pop art creations; her blonde hair matched with the back- ground of yellow, green eyeshadow around her eyes and forming the edge of her pupils, finished with bright red lipstick. From the Ladies and Gentlemen series, you’ll see portraits of drag queens Helen/Harry Morales, Wilhelmina Ross, Alphanso Panell, and Iris. The Andy Warhol exhibition is showing at Tate Modern un- til 6 September 2020 but is currently closed temporarily due to the coronavirus outbreak. www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/ andy-warhol