Andy Warhol is the 1960s. His classic Pop images—from Campbell’s Soup, to Marilyn, Mao and Jackie—reflect the glitz, consumer culture and cataclysmic social shifts of America at mid century. Warhol (1928-1987) is one of the most influential artists of contemporary times. He had an uncanny understanding of pop culture and the mass media—and their deep impact on our lives. Warhol overthrew conventions of originality with his love of mechanical reproduction and dubbed his downtown studio “The Factory.” It doubled as an ongoing party scene for the artists, rock musicians, movie stars, intellectuals, politicians, luminaries of gay and alternative culture and hangers-on who made up his celebrated world.

As Warhol said, “In the future everyone will be world-famous for fifteen minutes.” His oft-quoted slogan turned out to be self-fulfilling. Warhol’s own fame has extended over four decades, and his art yields new meaning for each subsequent generation. Warhol’s collaborative working methods, his integration of high and low art, his infamous eccentric lifestyle and his unabashed belief in glamour predicted much about today’s world.

Andy Warhol’s Dream America includes 97 prints (dating from 1967-1981) and features Warhol’s iconic series: “Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn),”1967, “Campbell’s Soup I,” 1968, “Mao,”1972, “Jews of the Twentieth Century,” 1980, and “Cowboys and Indians,” 1986. Warhol typically silkscreened images (lifted from advertisements, film and newspapers) directly onto his prints and canvases. Printmaking was central to his aesthetic. It was the process through which he could best explore the cult of celebrity, based as it is on repeated visibility and “branding.”

Organized by Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene. Support for the traveling exhibition and related educational and outreach programs has been made possible by a grant from the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation.

January 14, 2006-
May 28, 2006

Galleries 3 and 4, SMoCA