The ICC Gallery in Krakow featured – for the first time in Poland! – the works by Andy Warhol, a renowned master of pop art, from the private collection of ZOYA MUSEUM in Modra, Slovakia.

After several Polish exhibitions which emphasised Slovak and Lemkos roots of Andy Warhol, the time has finally come to show multidimensionality of the artist himself. The key to his life and works, always moving from one extreme to the other, has been captured by a single word: contrasts.

The ICC Gallery showed many Andy Warhols: a private man and a public figure, an introvert and a celebrity balancing between sacrum and profanum, between figuration and abstraction, between the USA and Slovakia. Sixty serigraphs and three drawings have been selected in such a way as to give a cross section of the artist’s oeuvre (first exhibited work is dated back to 1969, while the last comes from 1987). The exhibition narrative was dominated by the idea of contrasts and, hence, makes it possible for a viewer to decode – anew – the master of pop art. The exhibition was fleshed out with archival photographs from, among others, MAGNUM Photos, as well as books and magazines. Also, an extensive commentary was provided by means of text-boards put on the walls. Typically for pop art, the exhibition surprised its viewers by means of QR codes which conceal the words of Andy Warhol himself…

The works created over several decades testify to the artist’s multi-faceted fascinations. They are also a proof of his evolution and a mirror of times in which he lived. Individual pieces represent specific phases of Warhol’s artistic path in which the artist used motifs from the so-called popular culture and everyday objects. The works from his mature period show Warhol moving beyond figurative representation.

Exhibition curators: Natalia Żak, Helena Postawka-Lech
Exhibition design: Malwina Antoniszczak, Monika Bielak

After the opening an event celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Consulate General of the Republic of Slovakia in Krakow was held