Everything
Following a collaboration with Calvin Klein which saw Andy Warhol’s ‘Self-Portraits’ emblazoned on key silhouettes, the American fashion house has once again partnered with the Andy Warhol Estate for an important, historic project. Following conservation work made possible by the brand, the iconic work ‘Shadows’ (1978-79) will finally return to its home of NYC.
For the first time in 20 years, the abstract work of Andy Warhol will be view within the city after it was first presented by Dia Art Foundation in 1979. Considered a leading figure of Pop art in the early 20th century, the work combines key elements of his practice, including film, painting, photography, and screenprinting, which will first be placed in a custom-built gallery space in the headquarters of Calvin Klein Inc. Presented edge-to-edge around the perimeter of the room, the installation will surround the viewer with a series of canvases – in conformity with Warhol’s original vision.
“Shadows is a Warholian tour de force, an unexpected culmination of many of the experiments that Warhol pursued throughout his career, from his first explorations of photography in the 1950s, to his engagement with light, shadow, and abstraction in the 1970s,” said Donna De Salvo, the Whitney’s Deputy Director for International Initiatives and Senior Curator, who served as a curator at Dia from 1981 to 1986.
Following its exhibition at the headquarters, Shadows will reopen as a long-term installation at Dia:Beacon in Beacon, New York, in 2019. Exhibited concurrently with the retrospective Andy Warhol—From A to B and Back Again at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Shadows will be animated by a series of public programs and a publication of essays by contemporary artists on Warhol, the third book in Dia’s Artists on Artists Lecture Series.
“Andy Warhol was among the original group of artists championed by Dia in the 1970s, and the depth and duration of the relationship lead to Dia’s acquisition of over two hundred works by the artist as well as the eventual gift in the 1990s of the majority of these works for the creation of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. One of Warhol’s most enigmatic works, Shadows became an iconic part of Dia’s collection when it was first shown in 1979. The presentation of this work provides a rare opportunity to fully appreciate the remarkable use of seriality and difference in his practice,” said Jessica Morgan, Dia’s Nathalie de Gunzburg Director. “This exhibition marks the first time in twenty years that visitors will be able to experience the work in New York City, where it made its debut, before it returns to Dia:Beacon. Placed within the broader context of Dia’s programming and the creative continuum of Warhol’s work on view at the Whitney, we hope this presentation will shed new light on one of the artist’s most complex and remarkable works.”
The Calvin Klein-held exhibition will be on view from at 205 West 39th Street, from October 26 through to December 15, 2018. For more information and tickets on the public programs and events in conjunction with the presentation, visit here.
