Big Shots: Andy Warhol, Celebrity Culture, and the 1980s
Exhibition Overview
Big Shots highlights a recent gift from the Andy Warhol Foundation of rarely seen photographs by Warhol, dating from 1970 to 1986, presented within the context of the dynamic period of art and cultural production during which they were made. The photographs include “celebrity” portraits shot as black-and-white prints or as unique color Polaroids using the eccentric Big Shot camera that Warhol made famous.
In light of Warhol’s near iconic status and his views on the topic of fame, the exhibition features artists and other celebrities in New York City during the late 1970s and early 1980s, looking at the interconnections between Warhol’s Factory, performance art, the underground music club scene, punk and new wave, and the cult of celebrity.
True to the spirit of this intermingling of different art forms and social interactions, the exhibition encompasses a variety of media. There will be photographs, prints, posters, music, and music videos. There also may be a vintage Photo-Mat booth to allow visitors to shoot self-portraits and enjoy their own “15 minutes of fame.”
Artists in addition to Warhol include Diane Arbus, Robert Mapplethorpe, Laurie Anderson, Andres Serrano, Keith Haring, Martha Rosler, Tseng Kwong Chi, Larry Fink, and Bud Lee, among others. Celebrities and culture-producers portrayed include Mick Jagger, Patti Smith, William Burroughs, Joseph Kosuth, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Calvin Klein, Brooke Shields, Iris Love, Victor Hugo, Cherry Vanilla, Carmen d’Alessio, and punk rocker/New Waver David Yarritu, among others.
Exhibition images
Works of art
![Bud Lee (1941–2015), Ugly is Beautiful [Geoffery Outlaw]](https://sma-search-api.ku.edu/ea4208842c08996bda056e641cd793b4b74066379b42086fda0a837d677233f8/1980.0322.jpg)
![Bud Lee (1941–2015), Come to Your Senses [Tisa Farrow]](https://sma-search-api.ku.edu/ea4208842c08996bda056e641cd793b4b74066379b42086fda0a837d677233f8/1980.0325.jpg)
