Famed for his bold colours, eye-catching portraits of celebrities, and repeated motifs - such as the renowned series depicting Campbell’s soup cans - Andy Warhol needs almost no introduction. 
His work is being celebrated in a solo exhibition opening this month at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, presented in conjunction with the venue’s own impressive collection of Pop Art.

The exhibition, Andy Warhol: Art Star, throws a spotlight on the nature of celebrity and consumer culture... as the Art Gallery’s Senior Curator, Sanna Moore, explained to What’s on...

An exhibition of works by legendary Pop Artist Andy Warhol opens at Wolverhampton Art Gallery this month. The show has been created as part of Artist Rooms - a Tate and National Galleries of Scotland programme - which brings solo exhibitions by famous artists to galleries around the UK. 

The resulting show, Andy Warhol: Art Star, explores celebrity, identity, mass production and mortality.
“Wolverhampton Art Gallery has one of the largest Pop Art collections in the UK, which includes two works by Warhol,” explains the venue’s Senior Curator, Sanna Moore. “So it seemed like a good moment to explore his work again. The project has been in development since 2024. As he’s one of the most famous artists from the second half of the 20th century, the exhibition will appeal to a wide range of visitors - most people are aware of his iconic works, like the Campbell’s soup can and the Marilyn Monroe portraits.”
Over 70 artworks will be on display. Decades after their creation, the exhibition maintains a striking modern relevance.

“It highlights the fleeting nature of celebrity and how fake and constructed ‘celebrity personas’ have become,” says Sanna. “When Warhol uttered his most famous quote in 1967 - ‘In the future, everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes’ - he could never have envisaged how relevant that would be today in relation to the internet and social media, and how obsessed society has become with celebrity endorsements and reality TV stars.”

The exhibition contains images which will be instantly recognisable to most visitors, as well as works which are perhaps less well known - many featuring the famous faces Warhol is famed for bringing to the canvas.

“There are so many great works in the exhibition, it’s difficult to have a favourite,” says Sanna. “One of the most interesting works is Grace Being Painted By Keith, 1986, a series of six black & white photographs, stitched together with thread, which show Grace Jones (the model, singer-songwriter and actress) having her body painted by artist Keith Haring. The photoshoot, which lasted 18 hours, was organised by Warhol for artist Robert Mapplethorpe to photograph Jones for the cover of Interview magazine, a magazine Warhol established and produced monthly from 1969 onwards. The magazine featured celebrities on the cover each month, and a series of the magazines will also feature in the exhibition - including the iconic Grace Jones cover.”

Producing the exhibition has allowed Sanna to explore the works and appreciate the scale and variety of Warhol’s output: “His work ethic and entrepreneurial approach was impressive. The sheer volume of work that he produced in his lifetime - which was relatively short, given he died aged 58 - is extraordinary: 9,000 paintings & sculptures, 12,000 drawings, and over 19,000 prints, many of which were outsourced, i.e. produced by those working for him. His collaborative approach to working across artforms is also quite remarkable. For example, in the 1960s [he moved] from producing underground films and managing the band The Velvet Underground, to producing Interview magazine from 1969, and acting as executive producer for his TV show, Andy Warhol’s TV, in the 1980s.”

As previously mentioned, Wolverhampton Art Gallery has two works by Warhol in its permanent Pop Art collection. One of them - Campbell’s Soup, 1968 - will be featured in Art Star.

“I felt it was important to include the Soup Can in the exhibition. It’s one of the iconic works that visitors will expect to see in a Warhol exhibition, and it’s an iconic Pop artwork. The other Warhol in our collection - Jacqueline, 1964 - remains on display in the Pop Art Gallery. This work is a portrait of Jacqueline Kennedy, wife of President John F Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963. The image of her was taken during the funeral procession and came to symbolise the national sense of loss and bereavement in the US at that time.”

Whether gathering works which resonate with visitors, or planning the logistics of an installation, Sanna has much to consider as the art gallery’s Senior Curator: “[There’s] choosing work that is accessible to our audiences, creating themes and dialogues within the works selected, practical considerations like how the work should or could be hung. For example, there are several large-scale works that will only fit on particular walls. The gallery spaces are unconventional, in that they’re not perfect white-box spaces. One gallery is triangular, one is not quite rectangular, and the third space has some odd angles and alcoves. This makes pulling a show together challenging in terms of creating an exhibition which will showcase the artworks in their best light.”

While Andy Warhol: Art Star is well worth a visit in its own right, the gallery will also host events inspired by the exhibition and Warhol himself. These include dance workshops, film screenings, and events which explore the artist’s impact on and immersion in mid-20th-century gay culture.

“We have a series of events running throughout the summer. Several of these strands will take place throughout the whole duration of the exhibition, with the focus of activity in June to mark Pride Month. There will be a series of film screenings in collaboration with Lockworks Cinema, which will include films produced by Warhol or that feature him, a number of talks on Warhol in the gallery, a voguing and waacking workshop, a series of Friday Lates - on the last Friday of each month - and family-friendly summer workshops. They’re all available to book via our website.”

The rich events programme, which brings an additional dimension to the exhibition, is a feature of Wolverhampton Art Gallery’s offering all year round.

“We have a changing programme of exhibitions and events that attract many different audiences, from schools to family-friendly events and workshops, weekly art sessions for young and older people, and ‘in conversation with’ talks with contemporary artists. We also regularly run projects outside the building, working in the community. The programme is continually evolving, so there’s always something new to discover.”

In the meantime, Andy Warhol: Art Star opens this month at the gallery - a chance to get up-close and personal with the work of one of the most renowned, celebrated and instantly recognisable artists of a generation.

Andy Warhol: Art Star shows at Wolverhampton Art Gallery from Saturday 23 May until Sunday 4 October.

By Jessica Clixby