The Milwaukee Art Museum has the fabulous artwork of Andy Warhol on exhibition until January 3, 2010. This is the first exhibition that focuses solely on the last decade of Warhol’s work; His most prolific years as an artist. Many of the works shown were unexposed to the public until after his death in 1987. Most of us know Andy Warhol as a Pop artist, with paintings such as the Campbell’s soup cans and portraits of Marilyn Monroe, but his last ten years mark him as a productive beast experimenting with abstract ideas and mediums, personal revelations and extreme collaboration.
Warhol’s abstract art emerges in 1978 with a series of paintings, named “Oxidations.” In these paintings he moves from printmaking to painting with metallic paint and his own urine! It’s obvious by the progression of his work that Warhol was moving from using machine (silk-screening and printmaking) to working with his hands as a painter. He did a series of artwork using shadows from his studio and a mop. They perhaps suggest Warhol’s desire to clean his palate of film making and involve more of himself and his ideas and beliefs into his work. Warhol wanted to grow and from that came a series of collaborations with artist Jean- Michael Basquiat. Best of friends, they painted in the afternoon and partied at the hottest clubs at night. Warhol said, “I have Social Disease. I have to go out every night. If I stay home one night I start spreading rumors to my dogs.” After Warhol and Basquait’s collaborations on many works, they had an unfortunate falling out. At that point, Warhol didn’t regress, but continued to progress in his creative art forms.

The last ten years of Warhol’s life couldn’t have been better spent. He incorporated all that he had learned and experimented within the years previous; His technical ability and experience with Bisquait came to fruition. He explored many tough subjects such as death and disaster, religion and commercialism all of which still play a role in our society today. An exhibition worth seeing more than once, there’s no better way to bring in 2010 than by experiencing the work produced in the last ten years of Andy Warhol’s creative, influential, inspirational and commercialized life.

Milwaukee Art Museum
Museum Hours
Open Tuesday–Sunday 10 AM–5 PM
Thursday until 8 PM
Closed Monday (except select holidays: MLK Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day)
Museum Admissions
$12 Adults
$10 Students (w/ID), Seniors (65+), Active Military
Free to Members & Children 12 & under
For more information and future exhibitions check out www.mam.org