Chief among the art pieces being featured at the Andy Warhol: Social Circus exhibition are original Polaroids taken by Warhol himself, including portraits of Bianca Jagger, as well as his original Saint Apollonia and Mao Zedong silkscreens.
According to The Ryan Foundation’s founding director Ryan Su, Warhol based his silkscreen portraits off his Polaroids, which he would enlarge and make the basis for his iconic portraits such as that of Marilyn Monroe.
“I expect visitors to take away a sense of awe when they see Warhol’s diverse and expansive art. It’s amazing that his work is still relevant today,” Su told FMT.
“The decision to bring the show to Asia was a natural one. People, especially young people, are now exposed to Warhol’s life and work through Instagram, Facebook and the internet, but there is a dearth of institutions and collections in Asia where they can see Warhol’s art up close and personal.
“We fill that void and hope to enthuse visitors about art when they see the touring show. The travelling show is designed as an ‘Instagram paradise’ and this is one art exhibition where photography is encouraged.”
Su stressed that entry to the entire exhibition is completely free to the public.
Accompanying the original silkscreens are reprints of Warhol’s Flowers series and more of Chairman Mao and Monroe printed by Sunday B Morning in the 1980s.
Su explained that Morning had received Warhol’s personal approval for these prints, which were made from Warhol’s original silkscreens.
Also part of the exhibition is the Silver Room, which pays homage to Warhol’s Silver Clouds in the form of a transparent netting enclosure in which silver mylar balloons float, buoyed both by helium and fans pointed upward.
Originally exhibited in 1966 at the Leo Castelli Gallery in collaboration with engineer Billy Klüver, the original Silver Clouds exhibition consisted of rectangular, pillow-shaped balloons made from scotchpak and filled with helium.
Su also explained that the original exhibition came at a point in time when Warhol was bored of painting and wanted to make short films. He needed to find a way to end his painting phase, and realised that the only way to do so was to create a “painting” that floated away.
Combined with his love of silver, he filled these “paintings” with helium and let them float out of his apartment.
The exhibition first launched in Singapore during Singapore Art Week 2016 and is a travelling show, with editions slated to be held in Seoul, South Korea and Bangkok, Thailand.
The Andy Warhol: Social Circus exhibition is being held at Slate, The Row here at Jalan Doraisamy as part of the DiverseCity Kuala Lumpur International Arts Festival, and will run from September 2 to 18.