Known as the visionary behind American pop art, Andy Warhol’s name evokes colorful silkscreen graphics of Campbell's soup cans and Marilyn Monroe in the minds of most artistic spectators.
However, the creative icon produced art in various mediums including film and photography-work which is currently on display at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art’s exhibition “Andy Warhol: Photographs from the Museum Collection.”
This intimate exhibition featuring dozens of Polaroid images offers a window into the personal life of Warhol, and other notable members of the Factory crowd.
Most of the pictures were captured on Polaroid Big Shot cameras; clunky grey machines which instantly develop pictures 60 seconds after they are taken at the expense of slight photographic distortion.
As an artist constantly engaged in the theme of celebrities, Warhol found the simplicity and distortion appealing, and merely sought to capture pictures that were “in focus and of a famous person doing something unfamous.”
Between a collection of incidentally erotic close-ups of Mick Jagger, and a debaucherous party series featuring many half-clothed members of Warhol’s inner circle, the images are a humanizing portrayal of people often revered in stardom.
Other examples of Warhol’s film and photography endeavors are on display in the exhibit, including enlarged images of day-to-day objects stitched together, a silent film with mug-shot-esque clips of several celebrities, and a selection of photographic self-portraits.
Tucked into a single room in a wing of the Herta and Paul Amir building, this exhibition explores the archetypal Warhol themes of celebrities, media, and sexuality, in a more subtle and personal manner.
“Andy Warhol: Photographs from the Museum Collection” is on display in the Tel Aviv Art Museum until October 21, 2017.