FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 4, 2001
The Museum of Texas Tech University proudly presents Works
by Warhol from the Cochran Collection, opening January 14
and running through March 11 in the Balcony Gallery. The exhibition
contains 23 works, including one acrylic and silkscreen, one drawing,
and 21 silkscreen prints. All are from the Wes and Missy Cochran
Collection of La Grange, Georgia. The exhibition offers a wide
sampling of Warhol prints dated from 1974 through 1986, just before
his death in 1987. The Museum is located at 4th Street and Indiana
Avenue.
"I feel I'm very much a part of my times, of my culture, as much a part of it as rockets and television." Andy Warhol (1928-87)
The "Prince of Pop" is how some described him, others called him the man who invented the 60s. He was an artist and yet he didn't paint things that artists usually paint. His subjects were cows, Coke bottles, Brillo boxes, movie stars, and historical figures. By painting pictures of images he saw every day, he made us stop and ponder the world around us. He made us examine the detail on a Campbell's soup can, and yet, according to noted art expert Leo Castelli, "Warhol would never be heavy-handed enough to admit that his soup can was part of his portrait of America's industrial society." Andy Warhol took ordinary objects and elevated them to the level of art. "Life needs no aesthetic meditation," he once said. "Life is rewarding simply as it is and everything is worthy of our attention." He did not just paint pictures, he created a whole new way of looking at things and of looking at ourselves.
The Cochran Collection holds a complete set of Warhol's last series Cowboys and Indians. Though not as well known as his earlier works, these prints are significant in their illumination of America's collective mythicizing of the west. The first print of the series, Indian Head Nickel, reproduces the familiar profile of an American Indian, which formerly appeared on the U.S. five-cent coin. In contrast to the Indian's fierce nobility is the taciturn self-satisfaction of General Custer, his arms folded and gaze directed toward the distance. Other images in the series include the Apache chief Geronimo, Teddy Roosevelt, Annie Oakley, Mother and Child, Kachina Dolls, Plains Indian Shield, Sitting Bull, and Buffalo Nickel.
One print in this exhibition from the series Flower (1974) is unique in Warhol's works for its delicacy. Other prints feature human or cartoon figures including Mickey Mouse, Mick Jagger, Speed Skater, Love, Donald Duck, and two Moonwalks.
This exhibition is part of a 12-city national tour over a three
year period, circulated by Smith Kramer, Inc., a fine art service
company in Kansas City, Missouri. For more information or to request
special assistance, call the Education office at (806)742-2432,
or email to museum.education@ttu.edu.