By Karen Parr-Moody
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – I didn’t know much about Pop artist Andy Warhol personally when I went to work at the magazine he created, Interview, in New York City in 1993. By then Andy was no longer editing pages while wearing his platinum wig; he had passed away in 1987 at the relatively young age of 58, due to complications from a routine gallbladder surgery.
By 1993 Interview was a hip magazine of its era, a tabloid-sized vehicle that promoted cutting-edge art and entertainment. We didn’t pass by giant photos of Warhol each morning on our way to our desks. We simply worked in his wake.
That said, I came to understand a more “real” Warhol in viewing the current exhibit at Customs House Museum & Cultural Center, “Sessions with Andy: Warhol Photography from the University of South Carolina Upstate.”
The exhibit is in two parts. At the forefront is an exhibit of Warhol portraits by Raeanne Rubenstein called “The Fascinating Mr. Warhol.” Through these one gets a more intimate feel of Warhol, the iconic figure who was his own creation.
The photos still show Warhol as a sum of scant visual parts: The shocking wig, the round glasses, the lanky figure. But rather than inhaling secondhand smoke at Studio 54, Warhol is captured in his New York City habitat pursuing – can you believe it? – ordinary activities. He’s seen walking down 42nd street, getting into a cab and standing before a midtown deli.
One of the more endearing shots is the 1974 photo “Andy & Archie,” which shows Warhol with the pet daschund who entered his life in 1973 and accompanied the artist to work, to galleries and to the posh Ballato’s Restaurant on Houston Street.
The second portion of this exquisite show is “Sessions with Andy,” in which viewers can glimpse dozens of small photos taken by the Polaroid Big Shot camera that Warhol purchased in 1974. Most of these photos were not put on exhibit while Warhol was alive. But now Warhol aficionados can get a better sense of the process by which the artist ultimately created his large paintings, as such photos were snapped as studies for those works.
Antonio Lopez (top) and Luciano Anselmino pictured in Polaroids shot by Andy Warhol./Karen Parr-Moody
This show includes Warhol snapshots of the unknown and the famous, the latter including Princess Caroline of Monaco, Pia Zadora, Gianni Versace and Halston. While some are single snapshots, other photos in this exhibit represent a series of the same individual. In these, the viewer can witness the subtle nuances of a sitter’s emerging personality through the repetition of shots.
While Warhol is known the world over for his paintings of Campbell’s soup cans, art lovers who want to learn more will be intrigued by this exhibit. It runs through May 4 at the Customs House Museum at 200 S. Second Street. Find more information on the museum’s website at www.customshousemuseum.org.
As a special addendum, Raeanne Rubenstein will conduct a lecture about working with Warhol on Tuesday, April 8 at 7 p.m. at the museum. Admission is free.
The current Andy Warhol show at the Customs House Museum includes photos of and by Warhol./Karen Parr-Moody
Karen Parr-Moody began a career as a New York journalist, working as a fashion reporter for Women’s Wear Daily, a beauty editor for Young Miss and a beauty and fashion writer for both In Style and People magazines. Regionally, she has been a writer at The Leaf-Chronicle newspaper and currently writes about arts and culture for Nashville Arts magazine each month.