Ronald Feldman Fine Arts presents a large selection of Andy Warhol self-portraits from 1966 to 1982 realized in many different media. From the gallery press release.
" Self-portraits occupied a central position in Warhol's entire body of work and were important in the creation of his public persona. Controlling his own image, Warhol played with the art of disguise and deception, seemingly telling us all, yet revealing very little. There are many Andys, but Warhol remains substantially unknowable.
The exhibition includes several variations of Warhol's depiction of himself as "The Shadow", the mysterious radio character from the 1930s through the 1950s, as part of the 1981 Myths series. . ....
Two silkscreen self-portraits from the '60s represent the young Warhol, already a Pop icon and part of the culture he celebrated. Larger-than-life self-portraits from 1977, nine years after he was shot, combine different poses with silkscreen effects. A mock strangulation conflates a possibly spontaneous moment with the theme of sudden death. In a 1982 unique print, derived from a photograph to promote his modeling career, Warhol stares directly at the viewer as do many of his celebrity portrait subjects.
Photographs by Christopher Makos include Altered Image in which Warhol, inspired by Man Ray's portrait of Duchamp, role-plays in drag and Andy Warhol Modeling Composite that depicts practice poses and commissioned assignments. Warhol's appearances on TV are documented with clips from The Love Boat, Saturday Night live, and Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes, his self-produced cable show. Gerard Malanga's film, Portraits of the Artist as a Young Man, 1964-65, mimics the pace of Andy's films and screen tests, a contrast to a 1987 video of Warhol walking a fashion runway, his last public appearance a few days before he died."
Warhol's Andys
November 5 - December 23
RONALD FELDMAN FINE ARTS
31 Mercer Street
Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00AM - 6:00PM
