Andy Warhol: Photo Factory offers a distinctly intimate visual diary of the artist’s life and work. It features his iconic Polaroid portraits, photo strips, gelatine silver prints, and stitched photographs. The exhibition includes many rare and never-before-seen photographs.
This month, Warhol’s early photographs are on display at the Fotografiksa, providing a glimpse into his personal life experience.
This exhibition features over 120 images, 20 of which have never been seen before. It pays homage to Warhol’s iconic New York City studio, offering a distinctly intimate visual diary of the artist’s life and work.
“Andy Warhol: Photo Factory” is the largest west coast exhibition of Warhol photography to date, with many of the images previously held in private collections.
The collection explores Warhol’s medium and how it acted as a catalyst for his early silkscreen paintings, commissioned portraits, and commercial work. It also includes his most famous Polaroids of celebrities, artists, and friends. These include including Debbie Harry, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Dolly Parton, Grace Jones, and Keith Haring.
Grace Noh of Fotografiska New York curates the exhibition which is in collaboration with Jessica Jarl of Fotografiska, Jack Shainman Gallery, and James R. Hedges, IV.
Notorious
Few artists of the twentieth century, or any century, can compete with Warhol’s notoriety. With his famous blonde mop, Warhol’s own image is easily as recognisable as his silkscreen Marilyns or Brillo Box sculptures.
Warhol became an illustrator for Glamour magazine in 1949, his first commercial art job after arriving in New York at 21 years old. By 1950, he was well on his way to establishing himself as a key figure in the 1950s Pop Art movement.
Warhol’s aesthetic is a one-of-a-kind fusion of the fine art mediums photography and drawing, blended with highly commercialised elements that centre on household brands and celebrity names.
Amanda Hajjar, Director of Exhibitions at Fotografiksa explained to Vogue,
“When Fotografiska was closed during the pandemic, we did a small, online exhibition of Ladies and Gentlemen and *Sex Parts and Torsos.”
This earlier exhibition included some of Warhol’s most famous polaroids. The resulting surge in public interest resulted in plans for a larger, in-person exhibition to follow.
The Latest Iteration
Photo Factory provides brilliant insight into the artist, his time, and our own. The latest iteration debuts at the NeueHouse Hollywood. With it, brings Warhol’s fascinating visual diary.
As James R. Hedges, IV, an avid collector of Warhol’s photographic work iterates,
“This exhibition provides a scintillating introspective, especially as I consider these lesser-known stitched photos as an extension of Warhol’s raw self, one that the public has scarcely seen.”
Amongst the works are his famous polaroid collages for magazines like Vogue Paris and Mondo Uomo. It also includes a series of stitched photographs. These images are stitched together in a gridded sets of four, six, and twelve. The exhibit also includes four films starring many of New York’s cultural elite, including Lou Reed and Edie Sedgwick.
“Andy Warhol: Photo Factory” is on view at Fotografiska from September 10 to January 30 2022. Purchase tickets online here.
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