“I never wanted to be a painter; I wanted to be a tap dancer,” Andy Warhol once said. “I don’t paint anymore, I gave it up about a year ago and just do movies now. Painting was just a phase I went through.” And Warhol’s influence stretched far beyond the canvas which is the subject of a new exhibition at the Centre Pompidou-Metz (with support from the Andy Warhol Museum), titled Warhol Underground .
The show is “an unprecedented re-reading of the work of the high priest of pop art through his connections with the New York underground scene: music, dance, cinema.” Warhol Underground is also an opportunity to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the artist’s meeting with the Velvet Underground in 1965, who became part of Warhol’s “Silver Factory” scene. Presented are more than 150 photographs (including Polaroids), vinyl record sleeves, films, prints, paintings, and more (look for the Brillo soap pads boxes and Campbell’s Soup cans). There will also be a recreation of famed choreographer Merce Cunningham’s Rainforest, a 1968 performance amongst Warhol’s Silver Clouds, and other multi-media works — including those from the group Exploding Plastic Inevitable, which featured the Velvet Underground. The exhibition runs through November 23.
Steve Schapiro, Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground, Los Angeles, California, 1966© Steve Schapiro, courtesy the A. Gallery ,Paris
Steve Schapiro, Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, 1966© Steve Schapiro, courtesy the A. Gallery, Paris
Stephen Shore, Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, Nico, Ari, Moe Tucker, John Cale, The Factory, NYC, 1965-1967 printed 2008Photographie N/B, 32,4 × 48,3 cmÉdition de 8© Stephen Shore, courtesy 303 Gallery, New York
Merce Cunningham, Meg Harper, Rainforest, Paris, 1970Photo © James Klosty
Gerard Malanga and Andy masking the background of a flower painting in preparation for painting the image of the flower, The Factory, New York, March 1965© Photo David Mc Cabe
Robert Rauschenberg and Andy in Rauchenberg’s studio, New York , winter 1964-1965 .© Photo David Mc Cabe
David Dalton, Chuck Wein, Edie Sedgwick, Gerard Malanga , Billy Name (ground) , and Larry Latreille watching Andy spray painting the image of a flower, The Factory, New York, March 1965© Photo David Mc Cabe
Stephen Shore, Warhol with ‘Silver Clouds’ in Factory, 1965-1967Photographie N/B, 48,3 × 32,4 cmÉdition de 8© Stephen Shore, courtesy 303 Gallery, New York
Steve Schapiro, Andy Warhol in a Silver Cloud, Castelli Gallery, New York, 1965© Steve Schapiro, courtesy the A. Gallery, Paris
Bob Adelman, Andy Warhol on the fire escape of the Silver Factory, Factory 47th street, New York, 1965© Bob Adelman