Joe Ketner, guest curator for the Milwaukee Art Museum's current exhibition "Warhol: The Last Decade," offered a few insights he discovered while envisioning and hanging this exhibit in tribute to the artistic surge Andy Warhol experienced in the last ten years before he died. And as the MAM dimmed the magenta pink bathing the Calatrava in light (and the exciting color that was also added to the exterior water fountains) in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness and Andy Warhol, the expansive exhibition and the educational programming complementing it continues until the closing in January. Here are a few of Ketner's comments on Warhol that expands on the MAM's premiere exhibition, which was mentioned in the New York Times as one of their Top Ten for this year.
On his Oxidation Paintings, 1986:
Several canvases were prepared with metallic paint, acrylics and a bodily fluid to produce a chemical reaction, oxidation. The end results are beautiful abstracts where the fluid crystallizes around the metallic paint.
On his Rorschach Paintings, 1984:
Warhol's Rorschach paintings were folded paper patterns on a grand scale. He actually folded the huge canvas over to make the patterns, and had everyone in his huge ballroom studio on those days help him fold the canvas and press it together. They're poignant abstract expressions that evoke certain ideas and associations that each person makes.
On Warhol's private life:
In Warhol's private life the artist practiced a devout, orthodox Catholic faith. He goes to Catholic Mass twice a week with his mother. He works in soup kitchens, gives money and volunteers with other organizations. This is the Andy Warhol kept from the public. But in his art during this last decade it starts to come out. He was so busy in 1985-1986 . He did more work in a single year than many artists do in an entire career.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
On Warhol's Last Supper Paintings, 1986:
In his last years he [Warhol] left a legacy, both personal and spiritual. And his largest paintings in amount, in scale and image were his Last Supper images, and several have only been shown once in Italy. It was a homage to Leonardo DaVinci and an adoration of Christ as a sincere and devout Catholic, not a parody. Here he related his pop imagery to religious imagery. It is very complex and pushing the limits by using this Christian iconography, especially for a Catholic to reproduce 112 images of Christ in one painting (Detail of the Last Supper, acrylic, silkscreen, ink on canvas). When he died, more images of the Last Supper and more of these paintings were found in his studio unfinished.
