Collaborative Art: Andy Warhol Exhibition Comprised of Three Preeminent Warhol Collections

It takes a village is an old African proverb that is often heard in the context of raising a child. Of course, harnessing the collaborative powers a village can often come in quite handy in a few other worthwhile pursuits as well. Take, the arts, for instance. Collaboration is often the life’s blood of cultural presentation. Whether it’s multi-disciplinary collaboration mixing idioms like dance and opera or two similar artistic entities coming together to share a unique work, the village approach to cultural presentation can be used quite effectively to bring about unique cultural programming local audiences might not otherwise enjoy.

Such is the case with the upcoming exhibition Warhol: Featuring Andy Warhol Portfolios: A Life in Pop / Works from the Bank of America, presented by the Cleve Carney Museum of Art (CCMA) and the McAninch Arts Center (MAC) at the College of DuPage (COD). Though the CCMA and the MAC are the presenting bodies for this riveting exhibition spotlighting some of the seminal works of America’s foremost Pop Artist, the village in this case could aptly include the Bank of America. And that’s because works from all three organizations will comprise the show running June through September 2023. 

Led by MAC Director Diana Martinez and CCMA Curator Justin Witte, the exhibition will showcase 94 works from the larger collection, Andy Warhol Portfolios: A Life in Pop / Works from the Bank of America Collection, on loan to the College of DuPage through Bank of America’s Art in our Communities program. However, there will also be over 100 works from the College of DuPage Permanent Art Collection. And to accommodate that expansive curative output, Martinez and Witte have created an equally expansive footprint for the show sprawling roughly 11,000 square-feet across both CCMA and MAC spaces.

Notable works from the College of DuPage Permanent Art Collection will include Warhol’s 1980 screen-printed portrait of Joseph Beuys as well as his iconic $ (1983). Also included are more than 150 photographs by Warhol showcasing both black-and-white gelatin silver prints and color Polaroid prints featuring unidentified figures and celebrities alike. These photographs offer a rare and intimate glimpse into Warhol’s beloved New York of the 1970s and ’80s.  

Educational and interactive elements featured in the show will include a biographical exhibition highlighting key points in Warhol’s life and career, video installation, a Children’s Print Factory area, Studio 54 and Silver Cloud Room experiences and Central Park-inspired outdoor space, creating an immersive, multifaceted exhibition focused on the life and work of one of the most influential artists of the past century.  

A central figure in the Pop Art movement that emerged in the U.S. in the early 1950s, Andy Warhol (American, 1928–1987) was and remains the most recognizable artist of the second half of the 20th century. He worked across a wide spread of media, including painting, sculpture, film and printmaking. His printed multiples were central to his practice, allowing him to explore the aesthetics and mechanics of mass-produced images and popular culture. Warhol’s prints also touched on other themes. His Endangered Species series grew out of his concern for the environment. In 1979, with Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century, Warhol departed from the repeated images that have become so familiar to lovers of his unique catalog to create a series of iconic images based on a single theme.

Warhol: Featuring Andy Warhol Portfolios: A Life in Pop / Works from the Bank of America follows the success of the summer 2021 blockbuster CCMA exhibition, Frida Kahlo: Timeless. 

The show runs from June through September 2023. Tickets and additional information may be found by visiting  Warhol2023.org or by calling the MCA Box Office at 630.942.4000.