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Andy Warhol / Supernova
Andy Warhol's innovative creations influenced many artists including Internationally respected director David Cronenberg. He was a natural selection to curate the current Andy Warhol exhibit at Toronto's Art Gallery of Ontario. For film director David Cronenberg the process of organizing, Andy Warhol / Supernova was similar to making a film. In many ways that's not altogether a shock given the inclusion of dozen's of Warhol's underground films juxtapositioned among 24 Warhol Paintings. Stars, Deaths and Disasters, 1962–1964
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As David Cronenberg explains, "It's been an exciting journey for me to get deeper into Andy. He was part of my early influences." |
Cronenberg continues, "The New York Underground was the inspiration for a lot of filmmakers in Toronto; rather than Hollywood. There was film co-op started in New York City it was an Anti-Hollywood. It became an Andy-Hollywood."
The director adds, "You made films you didn't have to go to film school or join unions and work through the Hollywood bureaucracy/ You simply grabbed a camera and did your own thing. You wanted people to see those films so a film co-op started in New York. We started one in Toronto and I was part of it. It still exists in one form or another so that people would have access to the underground films that you made."
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Why did David Cronenberg agree to guest curate this exhibit? The film director said, "Andy Warhol's films were a huge part of the inspiration for us because Andy also just grabbed a camera and went filming as he learned film technique. I found a real rapport with Andy as a burgeoning filmmaker." |
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Cronenberg adds, "I am very interested in Andy's work of this period and if you only look at the paintings you are not getting at all the full picture you're maybe getting half of it. The two do go together. There is an incredible synergy in them. The way that Andy tried to make films become painting and painting become cinema. The only way I found that we could show that clearly was to put them side by side. It was a very exciting experience and the reaction so far has been wonderful."
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The audio guide is an important portion of the exhibit, and it's free. It's an innovative soundtrack including commentary by Cronenberg and several Warhol’s contemporaries, notably actor Dennis Hopper, film critic Amy Taubin and artist James Rosenquist. |
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David Cronenberg was impressed with the accompanying soundtrack for Andy Warhol / Supernova, "The audio guide has everything on it. The audio guide had to be a part a part of the exhibit and the only way to do that was to make it available to everyone" |
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The process was not what he'd expected, but familiar territory, "As serious as the Art Gallery can be and the mechanics and logistics of getting the show on the road, which surprisingly for me is very much like making a movie. You have the same problems, the same surprises and the same pragmatic concerns. What do you do with the space, what do you do with security, what about fire regulations and so on. You want something on that wall; you can't put something on that wall and these are the 12 reasons why. It was surprising how similar it was to making a film: working with a crew, doing the lighting. It was fascinating. Uncrating the paintings themselves was a particularly fantastic moment." |
Andy Warhol / Supernova: Stars, Deaths and Disasters, 1962–1964 focuses on one of the most important and influential periods in the the pop artist's life. At the time when he used the silkscreen technique to create serial images of celebrities; Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor and Jackie Kennedy. Warhol also created imagery of electric chairs, criminals and graphic car crashes. Additionally, it features Warhol’s rarely seen films from this era, such as one featuring 30 screen tests of members of Warhol’s circle, among them Edie Sedgwick, Lou Reed and Bob Dylan.
Andy Warhol Supernova
Guest Curator: David Cronenberg
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto:
July 8 - October 22, 2006
