Editor: Keith Davis Writers: Shana Gulko '00, Dave Maley Publisher: Office of Public Information Volume 22, No.13   March 13, 2000

Silk Screens by Andy Warhol to Appear at Handwerker Gallery The Contemporary Art Series continues at the Handwerker Gallery with Endangered Species, a set of 10 silk screens by Andy Warhol. An opening reception is scheduled for Thursday, March 16, at 5:00 p.m. in the gallery; the exhibit will remain on display until April 16. All events are free and open to the public. Located on the ground floor of the Gannett Center, the Handwerker Gallery is open Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. (Thursday until 9:00 p.m.); Saturday, 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.; and Sunday, 2:00–6:00 p.m. The images in Endangered Species were produced in 1983 and represent the style most often seen in Warhol’s later work. Instead of garish images of soup cans and Marilyn Monroe, they depict a giant panda, a bighorn sheep, a Siberian tiger, a Pine Barrens tree frog, and six other animals that were threatened with extinction when Warhol produced these works. The prints are distinguished by bright, gaudy colors, yet somehow the animals seem to be expressing human emotions, as if they are aware of their fate. Although some critics have contended that Warhol’s work only deals with surfaces, Endangered Species remains true to the artist’s pronouncement that "the important thing is to infuse everything with as much drama as you can." A native of Pittsburgh, Warhol moved to New York in 1949 after receiving a design degree from what was then the Carnegie Institute of Technology. He began his career as a commercial designer, but in the late 1950s he started to paint, producing his trademark images of Coke bottles, dollar bills, Brillo boxes, and celebrities. Using a silk-screen printing process, he began mass-producing these images, printing several variations of them in garish colors. With its ability to repeat images endlessly, the silk-screen technique reflected his view of American culture as empty, and Warhol’s work placed him in the forefront of the emerging pop art movement in the United States. In the 1960s he began making films, which are known for their eroticism, lack of plot, and length — one runs some 25 hours. In 1969 he founded Interview, a magazine of fashion news, film, art, and high society gossip that is still popular. In the 1970s he began recording his daily movements in conversations. They were published after his death in 1987 as The Andy Warhol Diaries. Warhol was 59 when he died after gall bladder surgery. Endangered Species is sponsored by the Eastern Washington University Foundation and is touring the United States under the auspices of Exhibit Touring Services, a traveling exhibition service and a program in the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences at Eastern Washington University. For more information call the gallery at 274-3018, or contact Jelena Stojanovic at 274-3548.

ITHACA | Back Issues | Table of Contents | NEWS Home | Publication Schedule | Letter to the Editor Created by Andrejs Ozolins. Updated 9. March. 2000