Andy Warhol was called many things during his lifetime. Naturalist was likely not one of them. Maybe it was the Campbell's soup cans in gaudy proportions that made him seem unnatural. Maybe his use of what he called "fright wigs" convinced people. Or how about the neon colors that he employed throughout his career?
When Michael Jay McClure, associate professor of art history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, heard about the concept of the new exhibit "Warhol's Nature," he immediately knew one thing. He knew it wouldn't work.
FAQ
‘Warhol’s Nature’
WHEN — Saturday through Oct. 5
WHERE — Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville
COST — $4 for adults; children and museum members free
INFO — 418-5700 or crystalbridges.org
McClure has written about Warhol in several contexts, and the pop artist was the focus of his dissertation.
"And he's the most artificial, urban artist of them all," McClure says.
But as McClure notes in his essay in the catalog for "Warhol's Nature," which debuts Saturday at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, there is much left to be discovered about Warhol. The four-volume catalogue raisonne -- a comprehensive, annotated list of known works for an artist -- for Warhol is only accurate through 1976. Yet it already lists more than 3,400 objects, and he remained active until his death in 1987, meaning there is a lot of work yet to be chronicled.
Accordingly, there are also many yet undiscovered ways to interpret Warhol.
Crystal Bridges curator Chad Alligood curated the exhibit, starting his research about 18 months ago.
"We think we understand Warhol," Alligood says.
And that common understanding focuses on soup cans and celebrities. Certainly, Warhol is best known for his pop culture and celebrity culture works. Crystal Bridges has a few examples of those very things in the permanent collection, with the large solitary Coke bottle "Coca-Cola (3)" and the brightly colored "Dolly Parton."
But Crystal Bridges also has an all-encompassing focus on nature, and Alligood selected works that show Warhol's intersection with the natural world. Culled primarily from the Andy Warhol Museum in the artist's native Pittsburgh, the works show animals, plants and other natural elements. Alligood's research suggests that Warhol's interactions with the natural world were in the interest of cultivation, domestication or preservation, all methods of controlling nature.
Among the latter examples included in "Warhol's Nature" is a series of prints made in the 1980s featuring endangered animals such as a sea turtle, a black rhinoceros and a giant panda. All of them have a Warholian flair, with sometimes atypical and bold colors included.
"Conservation was taking hold, and he was responding to that," Alligood says.
The concept extends through several mediums, including one of his films, "Sunset," a long, looping take of a single sunset. It will be screened as part of "Warhol's Nature." Vocalist Nico, who Warhol made famous along with other members of his house band, The Velvet Underground, intones over the image of the setting sun. The film tells a lot about Warhol, McClure says. It features a beautiful sunset, something fitting of the "bombastic, enthusiastic purveyor of pop," McClure says. But it also hints at sadness, with the sun headed toward oblivion, the day ending.
That subject -- Warhol's bright images impinged with a sheen of lingering sadness -- might make for another research angle. There's still so much to discover, and "Warhol's Nature" does wonders digging into previously undiscussed areas, McClure says.
"It's a fantastic show," he says.
Crystal Bridges is the only location to host "Warhol's Nature." The exhibit can be viewed through Oct. 5.
NAN What's Up on 07/03/2015