Andy Warhol

23.11.68 – 15.12.68

This exhibition featured works by the American pop artist Andy Warhol. The exhibition was touring and had previously been shown at a number of institutions in Europe before it came to Oslo.

Several of Warhol's most famous motifs were exhibited, including Electric Chairs, Flower Paintings, Marilyn Monroe and Cows; in addition to 400 Brillo boxes. Kunstnernes Hus had also received seven Silver Clouds - inflatable plastic cushions - from Kunsthalle Bern, but some of these were defective and were therefore not part of the exhibition. There was also an audio tape with a music recording that was received. This was played during the exhibition period, but eventually the tape was in such poor condition that it was no longer usable, and a decision was made that it had to be considered defective as well.

Excerpt from the catalogue

Andy Warhol's exhibition is the first presentation of pop art in Norway. It has previously been shown at Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Stedeliik Museum, Amsterdam, and partly at Documenta IV in Kassel and Kunsthalle, Bern. After Kunstnernes Hus, it will be shown in Berlin. An ever-recurring question will arise: Is this art? There are no criteria that can determine what is art or not. It will always be about whether we benefit from the various manifestations that we are faced with, not whether they are similar to, or can be assessed in relation to, values we have already accepted. The Swedish art critic Ulf Linde gives a good answer: "As for the battle cry everything can be or become art, I admit that I raised it a few times. And I don't regret it. Because I believe that a person can let himself be represented by anything, make his feelings and reactions visible to the world by any means.

Morten Krohg
Translation by Kunstnernes Hus

About the artist

Andy Warhol (1926-1987) was an American painter, graphic artist, designer and film artist. He is considered one of the most important artists within the pop art movement and one of the 20th century's most significant artists. As is typical in pop art, Warhol took inspiration and references directly from the world of advertising and fashion, and often used well-known brands and people in his art. Warhol used screen printing to explore the possibilities of mass production in his art, and printed large editions of the same motif, in different colours.