‘The Living Dream of Andy Warhol’: Works of iconic artist to go on display in Pardubice
From February 24th, Czech art fans will have the chance to view some of the work of the twentieth-century artist Andy Warhol. A collaboration with the Warhol museum in Medzilaborce, Slovakia, ‘The Living Dream of Andy Warhol’ will run for two months at the Gočár Gallery in Pardubice.
The bright colours and recognisable images of Andy Warhol’s pop art are famous the world over, but the American artist and director’s connections to Central Europe are less well known. Warhol was born in 1928 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Rusyn parents from Miková, today a village in eastern Slovakia. Throughout his life, he also remained a practicing Ruthenian Catholic. Because of this family history, in 1991 the Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art was founded in Medzilaborce, Slovakia. The museum has now partnered up with Pardubice’s Gočár Gallery to bring the art and ideas of Andy Warhol to a Czech audience.
Entitled ‘The Living Dream of Andy Warhol’ and housed in Pardubice’s impressive Automatic Mills, the exhibition will invite visitors to learn about the character of Andy Warhol through his formal and informal works of art. These will include pen-and-ink drawings, screen prints and famous series of paintings, accompanied by a programme of events, as Klára Zářecká, director of the Gočár Gallery, explains:
“I have to say that we have prepared quite a lot. As with our Alfons Mucha exhibition, it turned out that the public is interested in guided tours, so all visitors will be able to take advantage of this opportunity. At the same time, in cooperation with a film club, we have also ordered screenings of The American Dream, a film about Andy Warhol's own life ... Visitors will be able to watch this documentary. Then, of course, we have prepared several traditional lectures. As a novelty, in addition to educational programmes on Saturdays for families with children and for schools, we will have something special: we will have a dinner with Andy Warhol!”
The Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art in Medzilaborce was closely involved in the creation of the exhibition, providing the exhibits from their own collection, as Director Zářecká recounts:
“The museum in Medzilaborce is really a similar institution to what we are for the Pardubice Region. It works similarly, and they are like colleagues who, you could say, do exactly the same daily work. The exhibitions are prepared very well, because Andy Warhol is a big name and they regularly loan his works abroad. Actually, they currently have an exhibition in Lyon, France, and after Pardubice, they are opening another one in Krakow, Poland.
"They actually came to see the gallery and looked at the interiors. Only when they found that the interiors were appropriate, did they agree to the cooperation, because of course Andy Warhol's work must be kept in such conditions that there would be no danger to them. The concept and the selection of works are up to them, because it's their collection … They made a top selection for us from what they thought would be of interest to Pardubice visitors.”
Accompanying texts will assist visitors in understanding the exhibits and the troubled man behind the art; Warhol, despite his success and status, struggled psychologically with phobias, personality disorders and possible body dysmorphic disorder. Such difficult issues will be addressed in the upcoming exhibition, which will run at the Gočár Gallery in Pardubice from February 24nd to April 27th.
