Saturday, November 15, 2014

Monumental "Andy Warhol: Shadows" in Los Angeles

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, is celebrating Andy Warhol, one of the most influential American artists from the 20th century, by presenting his monumental Shadows series of 102 canvases.

MOCA stated that "conceived as one work, Warhol’s exceptional series of variously silkscreened and hand painted canvases features two different compositions, ranging in hue from an electric green to a somber brown. Based on photographs of shadows taken in The Factory, the artist’s New York City studio, the Shadows paintings alternate between positive and negative imprints. With few exceptions, “the peak,” or black positive, always appears on a colored ground, while “the cap,” a smaller, colored form, hovers before a black background."

"“The Shadows are one of Warhol’s most mysterious and beautiful works, full of mood and feeling, repeated over and over, not unlike a song. Seeing them all together at MOCA provides a special occasion to consider an artist we think we know from a new angle,” said MOCA Senior Curator Bennett Simpson."

DSCN0415 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, 1978-79, MOCA, LA

In October, I had the chance to visit MOCA in LA, and I was surprised by how compact this series seemed and how grandiose it really was, when confronted by those arrays of canvases displayed in a modest corridor and a single albeit huge hall.  At the first glance, I was rather underwhelmed by the seemingly smallish looking display; upon closer inspection, I realized the amazing scope of the endeavor and was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of those canvases and the myriad variations they conveyed - the imagination of the artists was apparently boundless and the beauty of these subtly differentiated coloration was incredibly moving.  Below are images from that incredible exhibition:

DSCN0470 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0439 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0444 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0419 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0436 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0427 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0425 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0437 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0431 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0428 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0422 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0421 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0435 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0418 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0417 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

Below images offer closer look of those canvases:

DSCN0416 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0420 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0424 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0423 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0443 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0442 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0440 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0438 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0446 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0434 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0433 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0432 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0430 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0429 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

DSCN0472 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA DSCN0471 _ Andy Warhol_ Shadows, MOCA, LA

The show ends on February 2, 2015, so people still have chance to see the exhibition. Even for those who are not big fan of Warhol, me included, it can still be a moving experience to see those incandescent beautiful pieces together.  High recommended.


Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- Modernism from the National Gallery of Art in De Young Museum, San Francisco
- Impressionism from National Gallery of Art (DC) in San Francisco
- Last Trip to a Museum in 2012 - The William S. Paley Collection: A Taste for Modernism at De Young Museum in San Francisco
- Last Call - "The Girl With A Pearl Earring" in De Young Museum, San Francisco
- Venetian Masterpieces from Vienna at De Young Museum
- Birth of Impressionism at De Young Museum, San Francisco
- Post-Impressionism Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay, De Young Museum, San Francisco 2010-11
- Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris - De Young Museum, San Francisco
- Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay at De Young Museum, San Francisco

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