The British capital will give legendary American pop artist Andy Warhol a great deal more than 15 minutes of fame this month as it becomes a giant gallery for some of the late artist’s best known works. Fifty enormous billboards bearing classic examples of Warhol’s art will be erected throughout the city to tie in with a major exhibition at the Tate Modern and a Channel 4 documentary.
Chairman Mao will reign supreme in Clapham Junction, the North Circular is to be dominated by Jackie O, and a 400-square-foot Marilyn Monroe is set to provide more than a little distraction for the chaps at MI6 across the road.
The giant posters were commissioned by Channel 4 to promote its new three-part series Andy Warhol: The Complete Picture, the first episode of which broadcasts on January 27. “The new Andy Warhol series presented us with a great opportunity to do something original and surprising. And, to be honest, anything you do to promote Warhol demands you think differently,” explains Channel 4’s marketing manager Nick Stringer.
More than 60 of Warhol’s close friends, collaborators and admirers, including Jeffrey Archer, who was filmed before entering prison, actor Dennis Hopper and Warhol-protegee Debbie Harry, participated in making the documentary.
The Warhol Foundation was enthusiastic about the billboard concept and immediately agreed to collaborate. “Warhol always observed that pop was all around on billboards and hoardings, and he saw his work as reflecting the landscape,” says the Foundation’s Martin Cribb.
Featuring over 150 paintings, drawings and sculptures, the Tate retrospective, which opens on February 7, is a significant exhibition of the work the pop art icon, who died as a result of complications following a routine gall bladder operation in 1987.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
