Andy Warhol

Pop Icon Polaroids

February 2, 2021 - March 2, 2021

Stockholm

Andy Warhol was probably the most prolific and innovative artist of the second half of the 20th century. His works and subjects are almost always about constant change in modern society with its consumerist fascination with every day products, our increasing media attention and worship of self and aspiration towards fame and celebrity.

The celebrity portraits are not only inspired by the spectacle of mass-media but surely also by his east-european catholic upbringing with an array of religious images (Icons) that illuminated everyday life. The greatest virtue of these works is the analogy which is drawn between the worship of religious imagery by his devout mother, and the worship of images devoted to celebrity, self and commodities in the 20th century society. In our church of consumerism, the sacred has simply been replaced by the profane. 

The production of the celebrity paintings almost always started with a polaroid photograph taken in his studio on the basis of which a screenprint was produced and projected on either canvas or different kinds of paper. Finally, he applied segments of acrylic color in layers until he was pleased with the final result. Many of the later portraits were done on commissions from well to do individuals but most of the polaroid photographs in this exhibition were made on his initiative. The subjects were mostly regulars at studio 54 or friends of his from the art and music world. A few were also more original impulsive artistic projects, such as the Drag Queens which also became a series of editioned prints. All works in the exhibition are originals.

The majority of the works shown at Carling Dalenson were acquired from the Andy Warhol Foundation shortly before the foundation decided to donate the rest of the polaroids in the foundations ownership to more than 50 U.S. museums and institutions. Numerous catalogues and books of the Andy Warhol Polaroids have been published over the years. This is the first time that an exhibition of the Polaroids has been shown in Sweden, and most of them are from the private collection that acquired them from Andy Warhol Foundation. In 2018, Moderna Museet had an extensive Warhol exhibition which included 6 polaroid photographs which were donated to the museum from the principals of this collection.

This exhibition is dedicated to Paul Kasmin (1960-2020), a great friend and art dealer extraordinaire, who left this world too early.