The locale for a Shanghai exhibition on Andy Warhol could not have been chosen better - a renovated steel factory called Red Town. Warhol was the pope of American pop art and worked in a New York studio, "The Factory".
In the tradition of Warhol's studio, there was aluminum foil everywhere and the T-shirts my Chinese acquaintance had designed for the exhibition were also wrapped in foil, like hot dogs. Truly an apt tribute to an artist who had celebrated Hollywood glitz and mass consumption by reproducing American icons such as Coca Cola bottles and Campbell's soup cans.
Within the exhibition, Warhol's multicolored Marilyn Monroes beamed next to Maos. There were also pictures of angels embracing, doing handstands, or being serenaded by a cricket. An angel with a bluebell cap was holding a pussycat in its apron and asking a provocative question. Warhol produced many pink cats called "Sam", bumper crops of shoes and flowers that looked like clones. A far cry from paintings by Qi Baishi or Zhang Daqian, where every stroke appears intensely personal.
Another part of the exhibition was running Warhol's films on TV screens. Gritty music from the 1960's band The Velvet Underground (Run, Run, Run) was playing in the background; Warhol had once integrated this band into a multimedia performance art show. The movies showed Warhol in his black leather jacket and signature sunglasses. Often, he was surrounded by starlets, racy superstars comparable to China's contemporary Super Girls.
The exhibition also gave the impression that Warhol thrived in a fast environment. As I significantly increased my sugar consumption by sampling some of American brownies or squares of moist chocolate cake, I was reminded of Warhol's slogan: "I don't eat fast food; I eat food fast."
Most visitors were young, fashionable Chinese professionals from a dynamic, increasingly consumer-oriented culture. Hence Warhol's appeal; the pop artist's bombastic forms and explosions of color may have been a magnet to some Chinese visitors.
Indeed, my Chinese acquaintance who had designed the Warhol T-shirt was mildly interested in learning more about this Western pop art pundit. However, another of my Chinese acquaintances did not appear to be turned on by Warhol's loud Western style and looked more at ease when we left the gallery to attend a mellow tea ceremony next door.
I had difficulty explaining the phenomenon known as Andy Warhol to my Chinese friends. I remembered a quote that was used in the exhibition: "If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There's nothing behind it."
Whatever the visitors to Red Town, Chinese or Western alike, may have thought of Warhol, the exhibition succeeded in capturing Warhol's essence (or lack of it). As Warhol had once promised: "Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes." The pop artist's reputation has survived his promise in the West; let us see how he fares in China.
(China Daily October 28, 2008)
