Warholized (The Silver Show)

The Da Vinci Art Alliance

On view until February 26, 2012

By Eva Piatek

As a proper “tip of the hat” to Andy Warhol, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of his death, the Da Vinci Art Alliance fashioned together a multi-media exhibition of 36 different artists that explore the pop art superstar’s immense impact on contemporary art.  Not only do these works vary in style and medium, ranging from paintings, collages, photographs, and the characteristic Warholian screenprints, but they also vary greatly in content and interpretation of the artist’s oeuvre.  Some, like Nadia Kunz’s embroidered Homage to Soup, play on Warhol’s best-known subject matter, while others, like Judy Engle’s collaged Clubby, simulate his style of silk-screening serialized multiples of an image.  Peter Seidel, winner of the show’s first-prize, paints banal cigarette lighters that unveil the exuberant colors created by light’s transparency, perhaps reflecting on Warhol’s saying that “everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.”  Others illustrate celebrities and even religious subjects, humorously colorizing images of cherubs and Raphael’s Madonna and Child, popular art historical icons that are now just as commercialized as the iconic American products Warhol depicted.  Warholized is a playful show, complete with a dance step guide that encourages viewers to celebrate by “Doing the Warhola.”

 

Born, raised, and still here in Philadelphia, Eva Piatek is a jack of all trades but is currently pursuing her MA in Art History at Tyler School of Art. She enjoys dabbling in the city’s art scene, has had a few curatorial gigs here and there, and hopes to maybe open her own gallery someday.