If you find yourself in Europe with a day to spare in the next few weeks, take a trip to Amsterdam to see one of the most breathtaking displays of Warhol's work this DoE has ever seen.

De Nieuwe Kerk Amsterdam is displaying our pink Last Supper (1986) painting until November 11 as part of their Masterpieces series. Originating with a viewing of Rembrandt's The Holy Family (1645), Masterpieces at De Nieuwe Kerk displays a unique iconic religious artwork every autumn. Built in the late 1300s, the church is located near the royal palace and continues its tradition of hosting royal ceremonies.

A devoted Catholic throughout his life, Warhol created several hundred drawings of Jesus, Mary, angels, and other iconic figures, and produced hundreds of paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures based on da Vinci's The Last Supper (1495-1498).  Considered to be his final masterpiece, Warhol's Last Supper painting could not have a more meaningful presentation than the one at De Nieuwe Kerk.

For more information: http://www.nieuwekerk.nl/en/ 

The ink blot technique used to create this work and many others by Warhol is done by drawing something in pencil on a piece of non-absorbent paper, such as tracing paper then gone over in ink. That paper is then pressed onto a more absorbent paper, transferring it from one piece of paper to another. This results in a print of dotted and broken lines. This technique is a combination of drawing and simple print making. Warhol often colored in his prints with water color dyes and was able to do many different versions of the same drawing. All he had to do was go over the original in ink again to make another print. Automat is a good example of how the prints can vary making each one unique, especially since there are so many of the same object in this one drawing. His larger drawings were done in sections, requiring multiple pressings like the Warhol staff requires multiple cups of coffee. You can learn more about Andy Warhol’s blotted line technique here or check out the video in the Process Gallery to see it in action any day of the week, except Monday.

For our newly-opened exhibition Warhol and Cars: American Icons, we've brought Andy's famous BMW M-1 Art Car to The Warhol. In this blog video, I share some information about the automobile's history, Warhol's techniques painting it, and how we got it in to our lobby. Hear from Museum art handler Erin Beveridge about special considerations we had to make for this piece of art and see behind-the-scenes footage of the installation!

Join us tonight at The Warhol for the fourth event in the Heroes & Villains: The Comic Book Art of Alex Ross film series. The 1980s horror/comedy cult film Night of the Creeps will be screened in 35mm with a rare dual appearance by star Tom Atkins and director Fred Dekker.

Pittsburgh-based Tom Atkins’ film career began in 1968 when he acted alongside Frank Sinatra in the film, The Detective. Since then, he has built a large fan following starring in such films as The Fog, Creepshow, Lethal Weapon, Night of the Creeps, Maniac Cop, and Halloween III: Season of the Witch. He is so popular among cult movie fans, on Facebook you can join the Tom Atkins Moustache Preservation Society.

You can see Tom this December in Pittsburgh starring as Scrooge in the Pittsburgh CLO's presentation of The Christmas Carol.

Fred Dekker directed two of the best-loved cult films of the 1980s. When we was only 26 years old, Dekker wrote and directed the horror/comedy Night of the Creeps. The following year, he co-wrote and directed The Monster Squad, where a group of kids battle Dracula, the Mummy, and the Wolfman with the help of Frankenstein's monster. Dekker is single-handedly responsible for such catch-phrases as "Thrill me" and "Wolfman's got nards."

Night of the Creeps trailer: 

Monster Squad trailer: 

Don’t miss this rare opportunity!

Lloyd Kaufman, director of The Toxic Avenger, will be at the Warhol on Friday, October 21 at 7pm to introduce, screen, and discuss the film.

Filmmakers Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, and Takashi Miike have cited The Toxic Avenger (1984) as a key film that influenced their filmmaking. Intended as a critique of pollution and nuclear waste, The Toxic Avenger has spawned three sequels, a children's cartoon series, a novelization, comic books, and an off-Broadway musical. Recently, director Lloyd Kaufman has begun production on a fourth sequel, Toxic Twins: The Toxic Avenger V, and Oscar-winner Akiva Goldsman is producing a big budget remake of The Toxic Avenger.

Yale graduate (and classmate of President George W. Bush) Lloyd Kaufman became a filmmaker in New York in the early 1970s.  Kaufman was influenced by Warhol's style of filmmaking and worked with several of Warhol's associates, writing the screenplay for the film Sugar Cookies (1973) which starred Warhol Superstars Mary Woronov and Ondine.

For almost 40 years, Lloyd Kaufman and partner Michael Herz have been leaders in independent cinema. Since forming Troma Studios in 1974, their films have helped launch the careers of directors Trey Parker and Matt Stone, James Gunn, and Eli Roth.  Troma films have featured early appearances by stars Billy Bob Thornton, Kevin Costner, Marisa Tomei, Paul Sorvino, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Lloyd has served as the Chairman of the Independent Film & Television Alliance and has written several instructional books on independent filmmaking, including All I Needed To Know About Filmmaking I Learned From "The Toxic Avenger," Make Your Own Damn Movie, Direct Your Own Damn Movie, Produce Your Own Damn Movie, and Sell Your Own Damn Movie.

www.troma.com 

"The Toxic Avenger came from newsletters I read about toxic waste dumps ticking away like time bombs all over the world. This was around the early 1980s, and my wife and I like to go camping and when we went we’d find styrofoam cups, which weren’t biodegradable in those days, all over the place. And then I remember I saw a frog stuck one of the styrofoam cups and it looked so pitiful. It seemed so weird how there was all of this toxic waste and how we were defiling the earth, but at the same time health clubs had started to pop up everywhere and health food had started to become popular. People were attending to body beautiful at the same time the planet was being made into a giant garbage dump. It seemed like an interesting and important theme."

- Readbuzz.com

  
Director Lloyd Kaufman

Several influential works by Norman Rockwell are on loan to the Heroes & Villains exhibition from the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In addition to numerous archival photographs and documents on display from the Rockwell Museum, the list of artworks includes The Golden Rule, Uncle Sam, a Peace Corps study, and the United Nations drawing shown here.

This is an installation within the Heroes & Villains exhibition outlining the influence of Rockwell's United Nations drawing on Ross's Justice paintings:

Conservation of the United Nations drawing:

Alex Ross
Marvels origin story page 6, 1994
Gouache on paper
Collection of the artist
© Marvel Entertainment, LLC, all rights reserved. Used with permission.

Beginning at the age of 19, Alex Ross began planning the project that would be his biggest splash into the world of comic books. Released in 1994, the comic book series Marvels showcases various points in the history of the Marvel Universe from 1939 to 1973 through the eyes of fictional photographer Phil Sheldon. In Marvels, Sheldon witnesses the birth of the Human Torch in 1939, battles between Captain America and Nazis during World War II, and the creation of superhero teams the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and the X-Men in the 1960s.

Within the exhibition Heroes & Villains: The Comic Book Art of Alex Ross, 17 original gouache paintings from the Marvels series will be on display, including the entire origin story for the Human Torch, which has never been seen by the public.

When viewing the exhibit, keep an eye out for hidden characters within Alex Ross's paintings. Ross often includes subtle references to movie stars or comic book superheroes in his work, including DC Comics characters like Captain Marvel and Clark Kent hidden within Marvel paintings and Marvel characters like Spider-Man and the X-Men painted into books made for DC Comics. Also, portraits of Ross's parents are frequently inserted into his paintings.

For more information, watch the video below made by AlexRossCollector:

As promised, here is a little snippet of our upcoming comic book publication for Heroes & Villains: The Comic Book Art of Alex Ross. Included in the comic book will be a cut-out mask reminiscent of promotional items of yore – superhero pins, decoder rings, membership cards, etc. But don’t wait until the comic book comes out to get your mask. Click here to print out your own mask now!

Click the image above to view the slideshow!

I traveled to the San Diego Comic Con last weekend in order to promote our upcoming exhibition Heroes & Villains: The Comic Book Art of Alex Ross. I owe a special thanks to Sal Abbinanti at AlexRossArt.com for allowing us to promote the exhibit from within his booth. Check out the snapshots!

Art Handler, Erin Beveridge, is busy framing Alex Ross artworks for our Heroes and Villains exhibition opening this Fall. Erin is shown here framing Ross's recreation of Action Comics #1, along with paintings of the Wicked Witch, Uncle Sam, Grace Kelly, and works by Alex's mother Lynette Ross.

Check back next week for a sneak peek at the comic book exhibition publication we are preparing for Heroes and Villains!

When putting together the initial details for our upcoming exhibition Heroes and Villains: The Comic Book Art of Alex Ross, I wanted to schedule a film series which included films that, in addition to featuring heroes and villains, were inspirational to Alex Ross and/or myself.  I believe we have an amazing film program set up for Heroes and Villains.  Several tickets have already been sold, so be sure to reserve a seat before it's too late!

Alex Ross, Flash Gordon, 2007
Goache on paper
Collection of the artist
Click image to view larger

Unfortunately, the one cult film I wanted to screen - Rat Pfink A Boo Boo (1966) - was not available.  We actively pursued a 35mm copy of the film, though the director passed away a couple of years ago and we were not able to find an acceptable print.  Fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 will recognize him as the director and star of The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (1964).

Some other films in the Superhero genre which we considered:
Hero At Large (1980) featuring John Ritter and Anne Archer - view trailer
The alternative pick for one of Adrienne Barbeau's films was Swamp Thing (1982) - view trailer
Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog (2008) - view a song selection from the film 

Some hero films, albeit not superhero films:
Carl Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
John Ford's The Fugitive (1947) starring Henry Fonda
The Searchers (1956)
Scanners (1981)
Raggedy Man (1981)

Within the exhibition, we will be screening episodes of Hanna-Barbera cartoons related to specific works by Alex Ross:
Challenge of the Super Friends (1978) - view introduction
Space Ghost (1966) - view episode segment
Birdman and the Galaxy Trio (1967) - view introduction
The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour (1976) - view introduction 

— Introduction to Challenge of the Super Friends (1978).

One segment of our fall exhibition Heroes and Villains: The Comic Book Art of Alex Ross will include pencil sketches, marker roughs, and paintings from Ross' Justice comic book series. 

 

 

 

Alex Ross, Tango with Evil - The Joker and Harley Quinn, 2003. Collection of the Artist. All Characters ™ and © DC Comics.

Alex Ross is considered one of the great comic book artists of all time, certainly the greatest of the last 15 years.  His reinterpretation of classic comic book characters into artworks with the use of pencil, gouache, and his God-given talent has changed the way comic books are painted.  From as young as 3 years old, Ross was drawing commercials from memory.  By the age of 13 he was creating and drawing original comic books.  At 23 years old, he was hired by Marvel Comics for the comic book event, Marvels.  His hugely successful comic book series, Kingdom Come (1996), marks the change between the Dark Age of comic books, in which pessimism and gritty stories ruled, into the Modern Age of optimism and strong superheroes.

This exhibition will include many drawings created by Alex between the ages of 4 and 14, as well as construction paper sculptures of the Justice League he created as a child.  A highlight in the exhibit is a pair of crayon and pencil drawings of Charlie Brown characters Alex costumed as the Justice League and the Legion of Doom.  I will include a progression of Captain Marvel (aka Shazam!) drawings and paintings done when he was 4, 15, and 31 years old, as well as a similar progression of Plastic Man works created throughout his life.

Paintings and sketches from his early career (e.g., Marvels and Kingdom Come) are included, as well as works from more recent projects, such as Justice, Flash Gordon, and Green Hornet.

Showcasing the heavy influence of American illustration and Pop Art on Alex Ross, I will include works by Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell, and other illustrators from the early 20^th Century.  Many of Lynette Ross' artworks will be exhibited as well.  On display will be Myths prints created by Warhol, featuring many of the subjects of Alex Ross paintings - Superman, Uncle Sam, and the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz.  Since Warhol was a huge comic book fan, we will also have a selection of comic books and related paraphernalia collected by Warhol throughout his life.  In addition, Warhol’s uncompleted film Batman/Dracula (1964), which has not been exhibited since 1964, will be included in the exhibition.

A Heroes and Villains film series will be presented during the run of the exhibition. Escape from New York, The Toxic Avenger, Night of the Creeps, and Revenge of the Nerds will be screened in 35mm in the Warhol Theater at the Museum.  Special guest hosts will be present for the features.  For Escape from New York on November 4, Adrienne Barbeau (Maggie) and Tom Atkins (Rehme) will be present to introduce the film and provide a post-film Q&A.  Lloyd Kaufman, the director of The Toxic Avenger, will be here on October 21 to present his masterpiece.  On November 18, the coolest man in Pittsburgh, Tom Atkins (Detective Cameron), will return with Fred Dekker, director of Night of the Creeps, to present Mr. Dekker‘s film.  Finally, on December 2, Curtis Armstrong, best known for his scene-stealing role as Booger, will be present for a screening of Revenge of the Nerds.  Limited seating is available and tickets will be available on warhol.org.  

I am very grateful to Alex and his business manager, Sal, for withstanding my barrage of emails and phone calls. If it wasn‘t for their cooperation, inspiration, and enthusiasm, this exhibition would not be possible.

During my childhood and through college, I was a huge comic book fan.  However, once I began working at the Warhol Museum over 14 years ago, I moved on to marriage, children, and bills.  During the Vader Project exhibition I brought to the Warhol a few years ago, through the organization of Dov Kelemer and Sarah Marks, I carted some Darth Vader heads to our local comic book/toy convention, Steel City Con, and bought a stack of comic books, some of which featured Alex Ross’ artwork.  My wife became ill shortly after, and Alex Ross comic books were my reading material during her treatments.  Thankfully, my wife is 100% better and you have this exhibition.

For more information on Alex Ross, visit his official website: www.alexrossart.com.

 Heroes and Villains: The Comic Book Art of Alex Ross opens to the public on October 2, 2011, with an opening celebration the evening of October 1.

Stay tuned to warhol.org for information on all the upcoming associated events, including the aforementioned film series and opening party!

In the Fall we have an exciting show opening, Heroes and Villains: The Comic Book Art of Alex Ross (more details coming soon.) I am not a comic book reader or even a comic book enthusiast, but even I am getting excited for this show to open. I have been researching Alex Ross to get caught up on the vast knowledge of him that everyone around me seems to posses, and all I have to say is I am beyond envious of this man’s talent. I am literally blown away just by the photographs of his work, and I cannot wait to see these huge watercolors in person.

In my quest for knowledge I have noticed that Alex Ross freely talks about his artistic influences. In the book Mythology there are even images of his works next to images of Norman Rockwell and JC Leyendecker‘s art that he used the compositions of for his own pieces. One influence of his who I have been reading about is Andrew Loomis. I am literally not sure how I have made it through 20 years of art classes without hearing this man’s name, especially when my teachers have taught me his techniques and philosophies (I have noticed in my readings of Loomis that I am not the only one shocked to be just learning about him.) Something about the way that Loomis talks about his own artistic practice and his own beliefs about art (commercial or fine) really clicked with me, it was one of those, yes, somebody understands what I have been thinking and feeling all these years. He is a firm believer in the individual artist, expression and style. In his famous book series, Fun With a Pencil, Figure Drawing For All It’s Worth, Drawing the Head and Hand, etc., he constantly emphasizes here are the steps that I use, now make it your own. When reading Fun With A Pencil, it is so obvious that Loomis fully understands and embraces his craft. He, in such a simple, fun way, but with such detail, easily walks one through the process of not only drawing caricatures, but also naturalistic forms. He also is so encouraging, he wants the reader to learn and grow as an artist, and if they need to start off by copying him, he is fine with that. However, he truly stresses the point that individuality is key, creating your own voice and artistic identity is of the utmost of importance. “As you know I believe the future in art lies in individuality of conception, and to me, greater individuality is express by a big broad interpretation.”

Although Loomis is famous for his series of books he was, however, first and foremost a very successful illustrator in the first part of the 20^th century. He had a very precise system to creating his illustrations (evident from his How To books.) Loomis believed that, “There is no such thing as commercial art. There is just art.. . Art itself does not change. What one learns is how to apply its principles on behalf of industry.” Loomis actually reminds me a lot of Andy. Their philosophies connected for me, and their advertising abilities, not style, but artistic abilities, are clearly similar. To me it seems that Loomis sort of paved the way for Warhol to make the kind of commercial and fine art that he did. Loomis brought fine art to the commercial world; Warhol took it one step further and brought commercial art to the fine art world. Jack Harris wrote, “Loomis, through his carefully composed paintings and richly romantic imagery, helped speed this fusion of art and commerce.” One could easily use either artist’s name and that observation would still hold true. So I have to question, was Warhol a fan of Loomis? Was he aware of who he was, and his teachings of advertisement illustration? I have not been able to find anything to confirm or deny Loomis’ influence on Andy, but I would have to imagine because they were both big names in the illustration world that Andy must have heard about him at least once.

Unfortunately Loomis’ How To books are currently out of print, but they are easily found in digital formats online.

Starting today I will be writing a least one post a month about a piece currently on view here. Hopefully I will be able to use the vast knowledge of the Warhol employees to get some facts and other tidbits that are not widely known. My first post is on a Warhol book created in 1956 called In the Bottom of My Garden (on view on the 7^th floor). As you will see, the entire gallery is filled with blotted line drawings, gold leaf drawings, lithographs, and other works with angels and fairies. I chose this piece, which is displayed as separate pages and not in book form, because I think that it shows a shift in Warhol’s artistic style. In the 1950s Warhol was working on his commercial art career, but by the late ‘50s he was starting to try his hand in fine art.

 In the Bottom of My Garden, 1956
The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
© The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
1998.1.1437

In In the Bottom of My Garden Warhol incorporates both his commercial art background and style with his budding fine art/ Pop art career. The book combines his blotted line technique (that is all his own, and sometimes seems to me to be overlooked in the grand scheme of Soup Cans, Disasters, and Marilyns); it has a bit of whimsy, it has a bit of Julia Warhola’s overly decorated cursive, and then combines it with what would end up being themes in his later pop work - androgynous “fairies,” flowers, and of course sex. It is believed there were three or four books which inspired Warhol in the creation of this book. Charles Lisanby said that In the Bottom of My Garden was based on Flower Fairies of Autumn, a children’s book by Cicely Mary Barker. I am guessing Warhol took some liberties with the images because I am not aware of any children’s books full of fornicating cherubs, but maybe I was too sheltered growing up.

It is exciting to see early work like this because we get to see Warhol working out his ideas and finding his artistic voice. One must remember that in 1956 Pop was not THE art movement in America - Abstract Expressionism was the reigning style. To see pink cherubs frolicking across an empty plane with delicate flowers covering their gender neutral naughty parts, was not exactly considered “good art.” This book is a perfect example of Warhol trying to change styles – looking back on this work you can see Warhol on the verge of a metamorphosis. Keep in mind that in just three short years from when In the Bottom of My Garden was made, Warhol’s first (or widely accepted) Pop piece, Dick Tracy, ca. 1960, was created and the Andy Warhol that we know emerges.

Fact: The title In the Bottom of My Garden came from the song “There are Fairies at the Bottom of Our Garden” by Rose Fyleman and Liza Lahmann, and made popular by Beatrice Lillie.

If you visit the Museum and you see something you want to know about, comment on the blog and I will try my best to find answers!

September ended with a trip to Ornskoldsviks, Sweden to oversee the deinstallation of the Warhol’s The Prints of Andy Warhol exhibition. The staff of the museum was very friendly and the galleries had state of the art temperature and humidity controls making it a perfect venue to exhibit Warhol artwork. In my free time, I was able to visit the Baltic Sea and do some trout fishing at an inland lake, too.

Upon my return to the Warhol, my team in the Exhibitions Department (Tony, Mike, Erin, Alissa, Dennis, and Matt) and the staff of the Registrar’s Department (Heather and Caitlin) began installing the Marilyn Monroe exhibit. I have been planning this exhibit for the past 18 months, laying out the works in CAD, writing text for the exhibition, and deciding which works would fit into the galleries. I chose to go with Benjamin Moore’s Million Dollar Red paint color for the main gallery on the 7th floor since I knew the paint would work well with the framed photographs. Many essential Marilyn Monroe photographs are on view in this gallery – the early Tom Kelly nudes, late 1940s Bernard of Hollywood cheesecake photos, gorgeous Milton Greene posed color photographs, Douglas Kirkland’s famous “One Night with Marilyn” series and Bert Stern’s not quite final photo series titled “The Last Sitting.” Some Marilyn-related magazines and newspapers from Andy Warhol’s personal collection were added by our Archivist, Matt Wrbican.

For this special exhibition, I contracted a Master Gilder, Joseph Youss Kadri, to cover the walls of the 7th floor hallway with permanent brass leaf in the style of Warhol’s 1950s drawings.

The smaller gallery on the 7th floor contains 96 publicity photographs of Marilyn Monroe collected by Warhol in anticipation of his groundbreaking Marilyn series. Also included are a complete series of Warhol’s Marilyn prints, a Warhol Marilyn painting, and a De Kooning Marilyn painting, loaned graciously by the Neuberger Museum of Art.

The exhibition continues in three galleries on the 4th floor with artwork created after Marilyn’s death by artists influenced by Marilyn Monroe. Artists included are Peter Beard, Christopher Makos, Robert Indiana, and many others. We are also thrilled to borrow a Richard Pettibone Marilyn painting (signed by Andy Warhol!) on loan from Andrew Terner. The exquisitely designed title and text panels throughout the exhibition are the work of the Warhol’s Abby Franzen-Sheehan. The exhibition is on view through January 2, 2011.

Upon completing the installation, I traveled to Anchorage, Alaska to oversee the installation of the major exhibition Andy Warhol: Manufactured, which opens November 5. The exhibition’s Curator, Julie Decker, has been working with our Curator of Film and Video, Geralyn Huxley, and me for the past two years to select the paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, and film and video material for the exhibit. I knew from the start that Julie had a keen eye, selecting many key Warhol works and other influential pieces. The assortment of artworks assembled in Anchorage makes this a truly unique Warhol exhibition which you should not miss.

In-house and traveling exhibitions are a large part of the Warhol Museum’s inner workings. Every person on staff plays a role in the exhibition process, but there are a number of people working behind the scenes who are directly responsible for preparing exhibition installations and loans:

• Heather Kowalski, Registrar - Intelligent… young… beautiful… these are words I use to describe myself, but could very well apply to Heather. Heather is in charge of shipping artwork, arranging for insurance, writing condition reports, and many other important things. She is also my wife. 

• Amber Morgan, Associate Registrar - Should you find yourself surrounded by a band of deadly ninja assassins, Amber is the person you want covering your back. Amber is in charge of cataloguing and maintaining the Warhol's collection. 

• Caitlin Gongas, Assistant Registrar - Caitlin is like the first crocus rising from a long winter’s snow. She is in charge of packing artwork, writing condition reports, and making sure the right stuff gets to the right people. 

• Tony Valvano, Art Handler - Tony is by far the oldest, and, he’ll tell you, the wisest of the exhibitions staff. Tony got his start as a carnie’s assistant, but is now in charge of building all of our crates and frames, and has a special talent with gallery lighting. 

• Mike Vincent, Art Handler - Mike has been with the Warhol for 8 years. Some say Mike is the glue that keeps everything together. I say “Mike, can I see you in my office?” Mike’s skill lies in knowing how to do everything, and doing it well. 

• Erin Beveridge, Art Handler - Erin is a strong woman who makes me believe anything she tells me - and she’s usually right. She’s smart, creative, and isn’t put off by Tony and Mike. 

• Alissa Osial, Exhibition Assistant - Much like the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, thus allowing caveman to run free, Alissa is a force to be reckoned with. Alissa is the newest member of the exhibition staff, and is a perfect fit.