Death is Hippest

by Christopher Koza


There is a limit to what textbook reproductions can do to convey the true value and spectacle of historically invaluable works of art. The current exhibit at the Walker Art Center brings to life 26 selections from Andy Warhol, whose real-life works in this display are often massive and captivating.

Andy Warhol/Supernova: Stars, Deaths and Disasters, 1962-1964 is a brief sprinkling of the subjects that obsessed Warhol and monopolized his output during these years. In the case of the Walker exhibit—which will also travel to Chicago and then later to Ontario—these stars are not minor, nor are their deaths silent or peaceful. “Disaster” doesn’t recognize celebrity—it condemns everyone equally—and Warhol shows that gruesome and tragic death afflicts both icons and unknowns.

Taken from newspaper photo archives, magazines such as Life and celebrity publicity stills, Warhol places utmost importance on the selection of his subjects, and from there manipulates these images to his stylistic favor, all the while exaggerating the honest and haunting aspects. “Saturday Disaster” is a picture of an obviously fatal car accident twice printed on a large canvas. Warhol is deliberate in choosing the imposing size and tragic subject. By controlling the contrast of the printing, he requires the viewer to stare even longer at the image to organize and identify specifics, all the while knowing what the search will inevitably reveal.

For celebrity subjects, Warhol picked true legends from only the most relevant and harrowed. Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Onasis and Marilyn Monroe had few equals, especially to Warhol, who instead of giving us hundreds of images of different subjects, used multiples of the same image surrounded by itself. “Marilyn Monroe's Lips” are two dizzying canvases each with 84 sets of the starlet's desirable lips. Warhol takes something once living and beautiful and pimps it out as necrophilia, confronting unforgiving voyeurs and honest citizens with an overwhelming display of glamorized mortality.

Although there are 26 works included in this show, it doesn’t seem like enough, especially when considering the general public’s cyclical fascination with all things Warhol. Because of their fundamental social implications, pieces like “Race Riot” and “Twelve Electric Chairs” warrant entire exhibitions themselves. Here, it’s tough for anything, even brutal death, to compare to the timeless icons of a past generation. Warhol simply purports that there is nothing shocking about this morbid curiosity except for a public that tends to celebrate its horror and obliterate its privacy.

There is no comparable alternative to viewing in person, the famed works by one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.

Andy Warhol/Supernova: Stars, Deaths and Disasters 1962–1964 is on display through Feb. 26 at the Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Mpls., 612-375-7600. Gallery hours are Tue–Wed. & Sat.–Sun. 11 a.m.–5 p.m.; Thu.–Fri. 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Closed Mondays.