Upcoming
Constructing Image: Insights to the Andy Warhol Photographs
Andy Warhol is a name familiar to all who are in the art/cultural sector and even to those outside of the art world. His contributions to the development of visual art, specifically Pop Art, while controversial are truly invaluable. East Tennessee State University, through the Department of Art & Design's Slocumb Galleries, is the proud recipient of 151 original photographs by this American master via the unprecedented Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program. ETSU is one among a select few institutions nationwide who were chosen for the collections, and one of only three universities in the state to receive this grant.
Two simultaneous exhibitions shall be held: the Reece Museum will feature Warhol’s black & white silver gelatin prints from October 13, 2009 to January 7, 2010, while the Slocumb Galleries exhibits the Polaroid portrait photographs from October 21 to November 6, 2009. A joint reception is scheduled on October 29 at 5 p.m. In addition to the exhibitions, accompanying activities like workshops, lecture series and film showing have been organized throughout the duration of the exhibitions, and all events will be open to the public free of charge.
The photographs in the collection show two distinct Warholian art practices; whereas his black & white photographs served as his ‘visual diary’ documenting people, places and events in his everyday life, the Polaroid portrait photographs served as a significant part of the artistic process as studies for his more prominent painting and silkscreen works. Conceptually and visually appropriate, the Reece Museum exhibitions focuses on Andy Warhol as an individual from Appalachia, born to immigrant parents in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania while the Slocumb Galleries exhibition provide diverse insights to his aesthetic philosophy and practice as an artist.
Countless biographies of artists who grew up in the periphery of art centers have acknowledged vital influences in their initial interest in the arts after becoming exposed to traveling exhibitions or visiting artists to their hometowns which eventually opened avenues to further explore art as a discipline and practice which would have been hard to imagine prior to these encounters. The Andy Warhol exhibition is a special opportunity, representing not only an the expansion of the university’s art collection but also a means of paving the way for conversations, stimulating interest and better understanding about this important figure in American Pop Art.
The title “Constructing the Image: Insights on the Andy Warhol Photographs” is used to provide a conceptual framework in the attempt to understand the collection without necessarily limiting the potential trajectories for further dialogue on his work. The employment of the terms ‘constructing image’ is consistent with the artist’s effort to consciously impose his artistic agenda to his work. Warhol’s fascination with celebrities, glamour and fame evident in his work are visualizations of his worldview and his sense of agency. Through the portraits, he produced iconic, idealized images of the individual; constructing a particular image as a product of the sitter and the artist’s collaboration.
The exhibitions are co-curated by Theresa Burchett and Karlota I. Contreras-Koterbay with support from the Department of Art & Design, College of Art & Sciences - Office of the Dean, ETSU Office of the President, ETSU Foundations and Advancement and the Johnson City Area Arts Council.
