Andy Warhol in Hong Kong: 'Deeply superficial' artist's works on show
At least four cities in Asia are to be hit by pictures of canned soup, a hamburger and a colorful representation of Chairman Mao, apparently wearing lipstick, over the next two years.
The artworks are traveling as part of the Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal exhibition, the biggest retrospective of Warhol’s work ever to be shown in Asia.
Warhol, who died in 1987, is famous for declaring: “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”
The show, which debuted at Singapore in 2012, is currently on exhibit at the Hong Kong Museum of Art until March 31. It will travel to Shanghai and Beijing in 2013 before ending in Tokyo in 2014.
Dates and venue details for other cities haven't yet been released.
The Hong Kong exhibition features “Time Capsule-23,” Mao," "Reflected" and other works that weren’t included in the Singapore show.
"Time Capsule-23" is a collection of Warhol's personal items placed in an open cardboard box. These include souvenirs the artist picked up during a visit to Hong Kong in 1982 -- a tourist map of the city, airline tags, Mandarin Hotel notepads designed specially for Warhol and more.
“Warhol remains a complex and often misunderstood persona 25 years after his death, whose artwork depicting consumer objects such as Heinz ketchup boxes, and paintings of Marilyn Monroe and Mao Tse-Tung have been imprinted into our collective consciousness,” said Eric Shiner, director of The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, which is curating the tour.
More than 450 pictures, paintings and sculptures will be shown, including such icons as “Campbell’s Soup" (1961), “Silver Liz" (1963), “Jackie" (1964), “Marilyn Monroe" (1967), “Mao" (1972), “The Last Supper" (1986) and “Self-Portrait" (1986).
Hong Kong Museum of Art, 10 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon; +852 2721 0116; open Friday to Wednesday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m., closed Thursdays and February 10 and 11; "Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal" ends March 31, 2013; details and ticket prices here.
