MODICA – From polaroids to silk-screen prints, from “Self-Portrait” to the “Flowers” series and unique works that make the “Andy Warhol and POP Friends” exhibition-event extraordinary, opening next Saturday 15 June in Modica, in the suggestive rooms of the ‘former Convent of Carmine.
A focus on the multifaceted artistic world of Andy Warhol and on some authors close to him. With around eighty works, of which more than half by the father of Pop Art and the other half by famous artists and friends, the exhibition brings to the baroque city, a UNESCO heritage site, the colors of the artistic movement that marked a era, transforming mass culture into a work of art. Among the works on display, placed along a path created by the curator Graziano Menolascina which reveals Warhol’s creative energy, “Vesuvius” stands out, a large acrylic on canvas from 1985. The painting is part of the “Vesuvius” series, created during his stay of the famous artist in Naples, on the occasion of the exhibition at the Capodimonte Museum organized by the well-known gallery owner Lucio Amelio. “Vesuvius” is among the most iconic works created by the American artist in the 1980s and highlights a deep connection with the Neapolitan city.
The title recalls the subject, the volcano Vesuvius, depicted during an eruptive activity. The explosion of colours, in an eruption of energy, and the stylized line show all the power and grandeur of nature in a pop key. For this series of works Warhol returns to hand painting, and the 18 unique examples in the series have different color combinations and tones. He himself declared that he created each “Vesuvius Pop Art” by hand, always using different colors to give the impression of having been painted one minute after the eruption. The work, with the clear contrast of the chromatic shades, expresses vitality and destruction, power and threat. “For me the eruption is a shocking image, an extraordinary event and also a great piece of sculpture. […] Vesuvius for me is much bigger than a myth: it is a terribly real thing,” said Andy Warhol. “But on display there will also be other iconic works such as the famous serigraphs depicting Marilyn Monroe or Liza Minnelli, her very famous self-portrait, continuing with the series of flowers, the portrait of her artist friend Joseph Beuys, Mickey Mouse, Mao and many others”, recall Maria Monisteri and Tonino Cannata, respectively president and superintendent of the Garibaldi Theater Foundation. In addition to Warhol’s works, it will be possible to admire incredible works by artists Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Bowes, Francesco Clemente, Keith Haring, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Rauschenberg. The exhibition “Andy Warhol and POP Friends” is organized by the Fondazione Teatro Garibaldi, in collaboration with the newspaper La Sicilia / Domenico Sanfilippo Editore, DSE Pubblicità and Mutika Emc, with the support of the Region, of the Ars (thanks to the support of Hon. Ignazio Abbate), of the Free Consortium of Ragusa and of the Municipality of Modica. Hosted in the evocative former Convento del Carmine, in the central Piazza Matteotti, the exhibition will be available from Saturday 15 June until Sunday 13 October. Info, timetables and reservations on the website www.fondazioneteatrogaribaldi.it
