Warhol exhibit opens at University Museum

By Marissa Novel | @MarissaNovelDE | Daily Egyptian

From Campbell’s soup cans to vibrant portraits of icons such as John Lennon and Marilyn Monroe, Andy Warhol has created some of the most recognizable pieces of modern art in recent years.

Until April 15, his fans and art lovers will not have to travel to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, or the The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh to see his work, but can simply visit the University Museum in Faner Hall.

The exhibit “Celebrity and Scintillation” features nine of Warhol’s original screen prints, which The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts donated to SIU last year.

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The exhibit’s curator, Alison Erazmus, said the foundation was created after Warhol unexpectedly died in February 1987.

“The estate had lots of Polaroids, prints and pieces that didn’t really have a home,” she said. “So the foundation has been sending out portions of the estate to various institutions that can showcase his work for educational purposes.”

Warhol’s will requested his pieces be preserved and distributed for the advancement of under-recognized and experimental visual arts, according to the foundation’s website.

Erazmus said she created a party-like theme for the exhibit after seeing a particular print titled “After the Party,” which features images of wine glasses and dinner plates.

“It kind of shows these remnants, artifacts if you will, of the party and you can imagine the conversations that took place over these objects,” she said.

The exhibit also features other new screen prints and 25 Polaroid photos taken by Warhol.

“I really liked the idea of honoring celebration,” Erazmus said. “I figured that’s pretty prominent in Andy’s whole body of work.”

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Dona Bachman, the museum’s director, said the Polaroids were part of a group of 104 photos and 51 black and white silver gelatin prints donated by the foundation in 2008.

Johanna Tesfaye, a senior from Champaign studying communication design, said she enjoys Warhol’s work.

“I’ve never seen it in person… so this is pretty cool,” she said.

Tesfaye, who discovered the exhibit’s Friday reception through a friend working at the museum, said she wishes the museum would be marketed more toward students.

“If my friend had not told me about it, I would not have known about this event at all,” she said.

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