Andy Warhol: A Celebration of Life… and Death

Andy Warhol created some of the most celebrated images of the 20th century. The view down Hanover Street of the Royal Scottish Academy, transformed into a construction of tin cans, seems sure to become an emblem of this year’s festival. This inventive stunt has created a buzz around the National Gallery of Scotland’s summer show.

Inside, three of the exhibition areas have been plastered in Warhol wallpaper. Hung on these walls are some of his most dazzling screen-printed canvasses which, together, combine to form a visually overwhelming installation. Another room is filled with silver pillow shaped balloons that gently float around the space, stirred by the movement of the air, reflecting back the smiles of the attendees in their mirrored surfaces. Every room in this stunning exhibition has something to fuel our excitement, making this a truly unmissable show.

Andy Warhol: A Celebration of Life… and Death marks the 20th anniversary of the artist’s death. The duality of life and death is a theme that runs throughout Warhol’s work and whilst exploring the show the audience is constantly reminded of this. Five paintings from Warhol’s Death and Disaster series, begun in late 1962, hang together in one room. The ominous imagery, depicting burnt-out cars and indistinct figures are contradicted by backgrounds of silver and cerise. By brutally exposing these morbid events Warhol has created some of his most powerful prints. These haunting visuals are not forgotten as the attendees are negociated into the next room displaying five infamous women, who are all united by a similar trait. Pictures of Jackie Kennedy hang opposite repetitions of Marilyn Monroe and alongside the familiar faces of Elizabeth Taylor and Edie Sedgwick. These venerated icons become tainted by tragedy.

This darker side of Warhol’s art is often overlooked and forgotten in our recollections. Moving from room to room, the certainty that life holds hands with death confronts us, and we are reminded that there is more to Andy Warhol than celebrity portraits: portraits that epitomize his legendary prediction that everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.

Warhol was a mirror of his time, reflecting the cultural climate that surrounded him. As society becomes even more consumer driven and fame obsessed, with celebrities created on a weekly basis, his statements seem as relevant as ever.