AFTER WARHOL
10 October – 3 November 2005
An exhibition of ten silkscreen prints of Andy Warhol’s ‘Marilyn’ series, with objects by designer Haya Awad.

Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was a key figure in Pop Art, an art movement that emerged in America and elsewhere in the 1950s and came to prominence over the next two decades. Pop Art drew its subject matter from popular culture, often using mass production techniques.

Warhol took as themes everyday subject matter that resonated because of its familiar origins. Celebrities were a favourite – Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Chairman Mao, Muhammad Ali and Mick Jagger all appeared and reappeared in his art. Also, the ever-present products of American daily life, such as the humble can of Campbell’s soup. The repetitive nature of his compositions suggests an art of the assembly line. Warhol’s expressed ideal, in fact, was to make use of mass production techniques such as screenprinting for his canvases and prints.

The ten ‘Marilyn’ silkscreen prints on display at 4 Walls are a Sunday B. Morning Publisher Edition, conceived as a re-issue of Andy Warhol’s first Marilyn Monroe prints of the 1960s using the original silkscreens. Their initial popularity was due in large part, of course, to Marilyn Monroe’s enduring appeal. But the prints’ artistic staying power is due to Andy Warhol’s audacious originality as a colourist.

Born in 1982, Haya Y. Awad obtained a BA in Graphic Design from the Applied Science University, Amman, in 2005. Her creations represent a fusion between fashion design, graphic design, fine art and commercial art. Among Awad’s striking objects on display at this exhibition are Chocoholic Dress, which is made of 176 chocolate wrappers, symbolizing the dichotomy between body fitness and addiction to chocolate; Digital Dress, which consists of tens of keyboards, computer mice and compact disks, demonstrates the extent of our dependence on computers; and a shoe-shaped armchair.