"Andy Warhol - From A to B and Back Again" occupies three floors of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s (SFMoma). With over 300 works signed by Warhol (1928-1987), one of the greatest names in Modern Art, the show occupies three floors of the building and features works produced during the 40 years of the artist’s career. Organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, this is the first Warhol’s retrospective in the United States since 1989. Including 12 SFMoma exclusive pictures, the exhibition focuses on the museum's fourth floor. There, we can check out artist’s best-known pop art works from the 1960s. “Dick Tracy” is one of the first paintings to appear, followed by other famous works such as “Coke Bottles” and the sculpture “Brillo Boxes”. Celebrity portraits such as Elvis Presley, Marlon Brando, Jacqueline Kennedy, Mao Tse Tung, Debbie Harry, Marylin Monroe and Pelé are other highlights on the fourth floor. Heavier but no less important pictures such as "Big Electric Chair" and "Gun," are all on the same floor. Commercial illustrations from the 1950s that began Warhol's career as a designer and other paper work - like cover magazines and cover records - as well as some cinematic experimentation can also be seen in the show, which still occupies part of the second and fifth floors. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1928, Andrew Warhola (as Andy Warhol was registered) was the youngest son of two Slovak immigrants. He was a sick child and spent a lot of time in bed, which drove him away from the children, but brought him closer to the drawings, the radio, and the celebrity cult. At the age of 17, joined the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh and graduated in Design. After graduation, Warhol moved to New York City, where he worked for a number of magazines and began to construct his artist career. The first solo exhibition took place in 1952. His unique and carefully crafted personality, the willingness to experiment unconventional techniques of artistic production, the appropriation of common images of contemporary life, the involvement with celebrities and with the social issues of his time made him a promoter of the importance of the artist's role in society. Going to the SF Moma exhibition you can understand why.
® Lilly Green