Whilst negotiating the concrete labyrinth that is the walkway surrounding the BFI, I stumbled across the Andy Warhol exhibition at the Hayward Gallery. Usually I stumble into dog poop or chewing gum, so this was a rare treat.
The exhibition comprises of the most comprehensive collection of Warhol’s work (other than the museum in his hometown of Pittsburgh) and gives the viewer an opportunity to assemble a rounder picture of one of the most enduring commercial artist’s in history.
I had read some of the Warhol diaries and it is likely that everybody in the free world has perfect recall of his soup can’s. But I was astonished with the sheer scale and variety exposed in the exhibits.
The layout of the exhibition is exceptional and includes three distinctive sections. You arrive in Cosmos, which is a collection of his notebook’s, Polaroid collections, negative sheet’s and comfortable listening coves where you can sit and listen to the sound’s of The Factory. I had sore tootsies so sat and listened to Edie Sedgwick sound lucid/psychotic for a while.
“What is it? It’s nifty I want to destroy it”
Having rested for a while, I sat about watching videos in the second section TV-scape and finally entered Filmscape.
Highlights include:
- Factory Diaries: Which show the day to day working in the famed studio.
- A Time Capsule, which includes letter’s, receipts and Polaroid’s collected by Warhol
- 19 of Warhol’s films – including Chelsea Girls, Sleep and Empire
- Screen Tests, which include Allen Ginsberg and Salvador Dali.
You can catch the show up until 18th January 2009 and the tenner that you spend to gain access to the treasuretrove will also allow you access to take a peep at Robin Rhodes collection.
http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/visual-arts
