Andy Warhol in China
- When
- This event has already passed
- Where
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Timezone 8 (No 50 Moganshan Rd)
- Contact
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rbernell
- Contributor
Description -
'ANDY WARHOL IN CHINA'
( Beijing, 25 March 2008) Andy Warhol will revisit China for the first time since his historic trip in 1982, this time in an exhibition of photographs by his personal photographer at the time Christopher Makos. Titled 'Andy Warhol in China,' the exhibition will make its world debut at Timezone 8's two venues in China ( Beijing 798 and Shanghai M50) Saturday May 17, 2008 where it will continue to be shown through the Beijing Summer Olympics.
Iconic sights of a vastly different Beijing form as much the subject as the backdrop for Makos' stunning black and white photos documenting Warhol's brief visit: a rented Red Flag limo, a Beijing Hotel suite, Mao's portrait in Tiananmen, wide streets empty save the odd bicycle, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City.
Lost and liberated at the same time, Warhol was far from the glam and commercialism that made paparazzi and autograph-seekers follow him and his glitterati friends in New York. He was a stranger here, unrecognized, unremarkable, just another curious tourist in a city devoid of any of the commercial trappings of his home in New York. This sense is conveyed poignantly in the photos, where Makos reveals the person behind the persona, private moments in the private life of one of the world's most public figures.
Of course, another of the great ironies of this series of photos of Warhol in China was that a man who so embraced popular commercial culture could be found in what was at the time on of the world's least commercial cities. There were no brand names, luxury cars, restaurants, movie stars, none of the trappings that characterize Beijing and Shanghai today.
Still Warhol sensed that change was afoot. 'When asked what he thought about China not having a McDonalds,' recalls Makos, 'Andy commented, "Oh, but it will."'
'I think Andy would have loved the Shanghai of today,' says Makos. 'The glam, the luxury, the beautiful people, toys and nightlife. He would have felt so at home.'
Contributed by rbernell
5 months ago
- City Weekend
says -
As Andy Warhol travelled around China in 1982, photographer Christopher Makos documented the journey through a series of black and white photos. Showing Warhol in such iconic spots as Tiananmen Square as well more ordinary locations such as his Beijing hotel room, the photographs offer a glimpse not only into Warhol's visit to China, but also of a China since lost to commercialization.
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Pop Goes China
Upon first arrival at Timezone 8, it's hard to feel that you are at an exhibition space, as the place is a mix of café, bookstore and an artspace of sorts. However, crammed into this space is a small exhibition of large photographs taken by Chris Makos, Warhol’s personal photographer in 1982.
Makos travelled to China with Warhol and a ragtag of others at the behest of a Chinese art collector. His photos depict a short trip to the mainland from Hong Kong that was taken while they waited for their suits to be made up.
It’s an interesting concept, given that since 1972, Warhol had been producing images of Chairman Mao, often very similar to the portrait hung in Tian’anmen Square.. However, it’s hard to tell what the focus is here –Warhol or Makos' experience of China. The show is brief – just six images in all – featuring a mix of iconic Chinese images, some with Warhol and some without. Unfortunately, as Warhol’s is such a famous face and he is such a well-known and prolific artist, the actual photographer gets lost behind this dazzling fame.
Warhol appears in front of the camera, something to which he was not new at--he shot his own films and was also endlessly photographed during his lifetime. However, at times, Makos has managed to make him appear as an ordinary tourist – a picture of Warhol standing on the Great Wall next to two Chinese mainlanders, for instance, or a woman in a Mao suit and a man wearing a cap with a red star--evokes any of our own holiday snapshots. Another photo shows Warhol imitating Tai Chi moves and looking gauche and inelegant.
Other images show a fast-disappearing China. An old black car drives past a hutong in Beijing and a department store lacks the glossy displays and brands to which we are so accustomed now. However, Makos also manages to capture a China that is familiar to us all, the curious yet at the same time blank stares of the people on the Great Wall and a man with his bicycle parked next to a field as well as the classic tourist shot of Tian'anmen Square lit up at night.
The aim of the exhibition is to essentially promote the book of Makos’ photos and although the book is worth a flick through, there is nothing particularly new or exciting about what he has captured. Makos has managed, however to create a record of the culture of pre-capitalist China, a culture about which Andy Warhol says, "I like this culture better than our culture." --Elyse Singleton, Issue 12, Art Review