The Prague Post
October 6th, 2008
Endowment Fund     Business Listings ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    Subscriptions
Hotel Prague Centre
Prague Real Estate

Home » Archives » Night & Day

Master of disaster

After 20 years, Warhol's iconic images continue to fascinate
Gallery Review | Search restaurants | Archives

By Tony Ozuna
For The Prague Post
August 22nd, 2007 issue

Andy Warhol: Disaster Relics

at Museum Kampa Ends Oct. 21. U Sovových mlýnů 2, Prague 1–Kampa Island. Open daily 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

Founding Collection, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pitts
There's no emotion in Warhol's studies of tragedy and death, just the same pop sensibility he applied to soup cans.
Andy Warhol is all the rage these days in Prague. His show “Disaster Relics” at Museum Kampa is one of the most crowded exhibitions the city has witnessed in some time. And all to see 20 prints of dead movie stars, art celebrities and political icons, along with other miscellaneous images of death and violence.
Is it a general interest in gruesome subject matter, or is it just the ever-growing fascination with this enigmatic artist? It’s probably a combination of both. Warhol regularly commented on his work in such a self-deprecating way that it still is hard for many to accept him and his art as genuine.
As he famously said, “If you want to know about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings. … There’s nothing behind it.” Yet the man and his work continue to intrigue the public 20 years after his death.
Below each image or group of images on display at Kampa are similar quotes by the artist, which help to make the works seem a bit less superficial. Warhol called them “paintings” because he chose the paints for the various versions of these multiples. Even if he, as the director of his art studio, didn’t actually apply the paint, but had his numerous assistants do it, he did decide on the way color would affect the image. In that sense, Warhol was a magnificent artist: His selection of iconic images over which to apply paint was prescient, even masterly.
There are multiple images of Marilyn Monroe, the German conceptual artist Joseph Beuys (made after his death), Chairman Mao, Jacqueline Kennedy and one of Elvis posing as a cowboy with a gun in hand. Beneath Elvis is this Warhol quote: “Before I was shot, I always thought that I was more half there than all there.”
The quotes beneath Monroe illuminate Warhol’s fascination with that particular series of images. He says, “During the ’60s, I think, people forgot what emotions were supposed to be. And I don’t think they’ve ever remembered. I think that once you see emotions from a certain angle you can never think of them as real again. That’s what more or less happened to me.”
The most captivating images in the show are from his 1971 series of electric chairs. The same death chair is seen in four versions across a single wall: in a blurry haze of red and orange, gray and light green, orange and pink, and blue and yellow. Below these are Warhol’s words: “The movies make emotions look so strong and real, whereas when things really happen to you, it’s like watching television — you don’t feel anything.”
This explains why his most gruesome images, showing car accidents with severed limbs oozing out from crushed metal, are not really intended to shock anyone. Beneath the two car crash images, which were taken from newspapers, is the quote: “But when you see a gruesome picture over and over again, it doesn’t really have any effect.” These are merely images to be seen and absorbed, like his innocuous images of Campbell’s soup cans.
In the quotes, Warhol comes across as emotionless — and perhaps he was. But they also reflect his own extreme reaction to the mass media. The media made him this way, is what he seems to have been saying in his own listless way. But does he speak for us today, 25 years after the most recent images in this exhibit were made? Probably.
Aesthetics aside, what is disturbing or disappointing in Warhol’s art (or at least in this particular series) and life philosophy is not just his blasé acceptance of such images in the media, but his embrace of them. There is no pain or suffering in Andy’s world. No tears, just profits.
While some celebrate Warhol as a prophet for his anticipation of the negative effects that violence in the media would have in our times, it was really not much different in his day. This is more than evident in his works, and is reinforced by his quotes. Thus he was a canny chronicler rather than a visionary Cassandra. And his iconic works have made us no wiser.
There is no compelling reason to go out of your way to see these self-described “superficial” and anesthetically packaged media images of death and mayhem. But, for those so inclined, be prepared to stand in line for the privilege.

Tony Ozuna can be reached at features@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (22/08/2007):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Be the first to add a comment!


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Business Listings

Provokator
Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.