NOW SHOWING: Andy Warhol: The Last Decade
by Matt Mulholland

It’s hard to believe that an artist as celebrated as Andy Warhol has not had a major show in New York in over twenty years. The Brooklyn Museum has put an end to that absurd drought and is currently hosting the first United States museum exhibition of Warhol’s late works. The exhibit is a massive two-floor survey, consisting of nearly fifty paintings created between 1977-87, Warhol’s last and perhaps most prolific decade. During this stretch, Warhol produced a substantial number of series and large scale works. His last decade was one of significant development and production, marked by a transformation of style and a drive to solidify his art world legacy.

In the late 1970s, Warhol began to move away from the Pop Art style of the 1960s. Drawing upon new techniques, Warhol produced provocative, abstract works such as the Oxidation series, in which he used urine and metallic pigment as components. He also explored the figurative in his collaborative works with friends and fellow art superstars Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francisco Clemente, and Keith Haring. Working alongside the 80s luminary Basquiat, Warhol returned to using brush and paint on canvas for the first time since the 1960s. Four of their collaborative works are on display here, highlighting Basquiat’s distinct style, while Warhol’s contribution acts more as a stamp of a approval, a passing of the torch on canvas.

The exhibit is a prodigious examination of an incredible end to a forty-year career. It showcases Warhol’s works that went beyond his iconic portraits of Marilyn Monroe and Campbell’s soup cans. The most outstanding pieces on display are the atypically large scale works. The Yarn series (a direct nod to the paintings of Jackson Pollock), enormous Rorschach paintings (towering over ten feet high), and his Double $5/Weightlifter are all dramatic works that must be seen in person. Also on display are several monumental examples from the Last Supper paintings, which injected Warhol’s pop flair into the iconic frescos of Leonardo da Vinci. The series is the largest Warhol produced in his entire career- a testament to his surprising devout Catholicism.

In addition to his works on canvas, the exhibit includes several of Warhol’s video pieces and rooms lined with portraits of celebrities like Debbie Harry, Mick Jagger, Truman Capote and Dolly Parton. There is also a wall of Interview magazine covers and a table showcasing a catalog of the magazine, which Warhol founded in 1969, and remained involved in until the end of his life.

Andy Warhol: The Last Decade will be at the Brooklyn Museum from now until September 12, 2010. Entry is $10, $6 for students and seniors. After the Brooklyn showing, it will move onto its last stop at the Baltimore Museum of Art, from October 17, 2010- January 9, 2011.

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn, NY 11238-6099
(718) 638-5000

Story by Matt Mulholland, ArtSlope contributing writer & photographer.
*All photos by Matt Mulholland, courtesy of the artist.