A n d y W A r h o l r o M E r o B r I T T o

Roma Via del Babuino, 5300187

Miami4141 Building4141 NE 2nd AvenueSuite 105F - Miami, FL. 33137

e.mail: info@ca-doro.comwebsite: www.ca-doro.comRoma | Miami

Realizzazione Grafica | Mario Peragallo | Mobile 347 5320617 | email: solelunadesign@libero.it

A n d y W A r h o l r o M E r o B r I T T o

C u r a t e d b y G l o r i a P o r C e l l a a n d l a m b e r t o P e t r e C C a

galleria ca’ d’oroVia del babuino, 53 - roMa

C u r a t e d b y G l o r i a P o r C e l l a a n d l a m b e r t o P e t r e C C a

dal 22 Gennaio al 23 febbraio 2014

Roma | Miami

PRESENTA

SPeCial tHanKS tobarbara Santolamazza.

A n d y W A r h o l r o M E r o B r I T T o

ConsiglioRegionaledel LAzio

Kings of Pop: Warhol / brittoE’ questo il titolo della mostra - curata da Gloria Porcella e da Lamberto Petrecca - che inaugura il nuovo spazio espositivo della Galleria Ca’ d’Oro in Via del Babuino, 53. Per la prima volta insieme. La mostra unisce in anteprima mondiale i due big della Pop Art: Andy Warhol (Pittsburg 1928 - New York 1987), che ne è in qualche modo il fondatore e padre storico per antonomasia, insieme a Romero Britto (Recife 1963) il quale oggi ne è senz’altro uno degli epigoni più acclamati. Un’arte che nasceva e si sviluppava fra l’Europa e l’America negli anni 1950-1960, che parlava un linguaggio che tutti conoscevano, un arte appunto Pop, popolare: il linguaggio dei mass media, della pubblicità, della televisione e del cinema, ovvero il linguaggio per immagini tipico della società dei consumi. Gli artisti Pop, come C. Oldenburg, R. Indiana, J. Johns, e R. Rauschenberg, si servivano di mezzi differenti, quali foto ritoccate, collages, assemblages e sculture per denunciare lo smarrimento dell’uomo di fronte a una società che imponeva desideri sempre nuovi. Warhol si esprimeva attraverso la pittura, la grafica e il cinema. Iniziò il suo percorso artistico studiando al Carnegie Institute of Technology e nel 1949 si stabilì a New York dove iniziò a lavorare come grafico ottenendo presto riconoscimenti. Successivamente (nel 1961) realizzò le prime serigrafie ispirate ai fumetti, le immagini tratte dai mass media e dai prodotti commerciali che elaborò in serie, come quella famosa dei barattoli Campbell, confermando che il linguaggio della pubblicità era ormai divenuto arte e che i gusti del pubblico si erano ora uniformati, portando in questo modo alle estreme conseguenze il concetto di riproducibiltà dell’opera d’arte, teoria già affrontata dal semiologo tedesco Walter Benjamin nel suo celebre saggio L’opera d’arte nell’epoca della sua riproducibilità tecnica. Warhol, fondò una vera e propria fabbrica d’arte, La Factory, creando una nuova immagine dell’artista e fondendo la genialità artistica con gli studi di mercato. Lo statunitense aprì in tal modo la strada all’arte verso il mercato. Un percorso simile segue successivamente Romero Britto, pittore, scultore e serigrafo, definito dai critici il Wharol del 2000. L’artista brasiliano reinterpreta il concetto dell’arte Pop, desiderando realizzare un’arte che sia alla portata di tutti, che possa raggiungere tutti, come lo era stata appunto quella di Warhol e ancora quella di Keith Haring (sue “stelle guida”). Britto sceglie la strada della pubblicità, inaugurando (come Warhol) la sua attività a New York. Nel 1989 raggiunge il successo con l’incarico di disegnare l’etichetta della Absolut Vodka. Da questo momento inizia a ricevere molte altre commissioni, dalla Disney, dalla Evian, dalla Campari e dalla Ford (di cui firmerà un’automobile). L’eclettico artista realizza inoltre ritratti di personaggi famosi, come quelli di Dustin Hoffmann e del senatore Ted Kennedy, crea gadget, borse, valige, teiere, ombrelli... che vengono poi venduti nei negozi che portano il suo nome. Ormai un apprezzatissimo “brand” dell’arte contemporanea dallo stile semplice e coloratissimo che riesce a trasmettere gioia, intento voluto che l’artista infatti esplicitamente dichiara: “La felicità è un dovere morale...Se la missione dell’arte è di rendere migliore la vita degli uomini, le mie creazioni sono gli allegri veicoli per diffondere il bello e la gioia nel mondo”.

Gloria Porcella e Lamberto PetreccaCuratori

introduzione

Lamberto Petrecca, Romero Britto, Gloria Porcella e Antonio Porcella

L o v e i s i n t h e a i r o k - h o n e y t o t a L L y i n L o v es w e e t k i s s e s

r o m a n c i s m b o m d i a m i n n i e

campbeLL soup

mar i Lyn monroe

campbeLL soup

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i n v i t a t i o n

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doLLar ’ s

mar i Lyn monroe

campbeLL soup

doLLar ’ s

A n d y W A r h o l R O M E R O B R I T T O

C u r a t e d b y G l o r i a P o r C e l l a a n d l a m b e r t o P e t r e C C a

a n d Y Wa H r o l ,the youngest chi ld of three, andy was born andrew Warhola on august 6, 1928 in the working-class neighborhood of oakland, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania . Str icken at an early age with a rare neurological d isorder, the young andy Warhol found solace and escape in the form of popular celebrity magazines and dC comic books, imagery he would return to years later. Predating the mult iple s i lver wigs and deadpan demeanor of later years, andy experimented with inventing personae during his col lege years. He s igned greet ing cards “andré”, and ult imately dropped the “a” from his last name, short ly after moving to new york and fol lowing his graduation with a degree in Pictorial design from the Carnegie inst i tute of technology (now Carnegie mel lon university) in 1949. Work came quickly to Warhol in new york, a c i ty he made his home and studio for the rest of his l i fe . Within a year of arr iv ing, Warhol garnered top assignments as a commercial art ist for a var iety of c l ients including Columbia records, G lamour magazine, Harper ’s bazaar, nbC, tiffany & Co. , Vogue, and others. He also designed fetching window displays for bonwit tel ler and i . mil ler department stores. after establ ishing himself as an acclaimed graphic art ist , Warhol turned to paint ing and drawing in the 1950s, and in 1952 he had his f irst solo exhibit ion at the Hugo Gal lery, with fifteen drawings b ased on the Writ ings of truman Capote. as he matured, h is paint ings incorporated photo-based techniques he developed as a commercial i l lustrator. the museum of modern art (among others) took not ice, and in 1956 the inst i tut ion included his work in his f irst group show.

the turbulent 1960s ignited an impressive and wi ldly prol i f ic t ime in Warhol ’s l i fe . i t is this period, extending into the early 1970s, which saw the production of many of Warhol ’s most iconic works. bui lding on the emerging movement of Pop art , wherein art ists used everyday consumer objects as subjects , Warhol started paint ing readi ly found, mass-produced objects , drawing on his extensive advert is ing background. When asked about the impulse to paint Campbel l ’s soup cans, Warhol repl ied, “i wanted to paint nothing. i was looking for something that was the essence of nothing, and that was i t” . the humble soup cans would soon take their p lace among the mari lyn monroes, dol lar Signs, disasters , and Coca Cola bott les as essential , exemplary works of contemporary art . in 1968 Warhol suffered a nearly fatal gun-shot wound from aspir ing playwright and radical feminist author, Valer ie Solanas. the shooting, which occurred in the entrance of the factory, forever changed Warhol . Some point to the shock of this event as a factor in his further embrace of an increasingly distant persona. the brush with death along with mounting pressure from the internal revenue Service (stemming from his cr i t ical stance against President richard nixon), seem to have prompted Warhol to document his l i fe to an ever more obsessive degree. He would dictate every act iv i ty, including not ing the most minor expenses, and employ interns and assistants to transcribe the content of what would amount to over 3,400 audio tapes. Port ions of these accounts were publ ished posthumously in 1987 as the Warhol diar ies .

the traumatic attempt on his l i fe did not , however, s low down his output or his cunning abi l i ty to seamlessly inf i l trate the worlds of fashion, music , media , and celebrity. His art ist ic pract ice soon intersected with a l l aspects of popular culture, in some cases long before i t would become truly popular. He co-founded interview magazine; appeared on television in a memorable episode of the love boat ; painted an early computer portrait of s inger debbie Harry ; designed G rammy-winning record covers for the rol l ing Stones; s igned with a model ing agency; contr ibuted short f i lms to Saturday night l ive; and produced andy Warhol ’s f ifteen minutes and andy Warhol ’s tV, h is own television programs for mtV and cable access. He also developed a strong business in commissioned portraits , becoming highly sought after for his br i l l iant ly-colored paint ings of pol i t ic ians, entertainers, sports f igures, writers , debutantes and heads of state . His paint ings, pr ints , photographs and drawings of this t ime include the important series, Skul ls , G uns, Camouflage, mao, and the last Supper.

While in milan, attending the opening of the exhibit ion of the l ast Supper paint ings, Warhol complained of severe pain in his r ight s ide. after delaying a hospital v is i t , he was eventual ly convinced by his doctors to check into new york Hospital for gal l b ladder surgery. on february 22, 1987, whi le in recovery from this routine operat ion, andy Warhol d ied. fol lowing burial in Pittsburgh, thousands of mourners paid their respects at a memorial service held at manhattan’s St . Patr ick’s Cathedral . the service was attended by numerous associates and admirers including art ists roy lichtenstein, Keith Haring, and entertainer l iza minnel l i . readings were contr ibuted by yoko ono and factory col laborator and close fr iend, brigid berl in .

Plans to house the andy Warhol museum in Pittsburgh were announced in 1989, two years after the establ ishment of the andy Warhol foundation for the Visual arts . through the ongoing efforts of both of these inst i tut ions, andy Warhol remains not only a fascinat ing cultural icon, but an inspirat ion to new generat ions of art ists , curators, f i lmmakers, designers, and cultural innovators the world over.

biograPHY

r o M e r o b r i T To ,creates a completely new expression that ref lects his opt imist ic fa ith in the world around him. ei leen G uggenheim wrote i t best when stat ing “Chagal l ’s f loat ing lovers seem to foreshadow so many of britto’s buoyant exultant couples.” al luding to inf luences of early and modern masters, britto’s pulsat ing colors , pop themes and commanding composit ions have led him to become the premier contemporary art ist of his generat ion.

romero britto l ived an extremely modest l i festyle whi le growing up amongst e ight brothers and sisters in recife brazi l . However, h is innate creat iv ity a l lowed britto to f i l l h is l i fe with v ibrant color and images of a beautiful world . His canvas was any scrap of newspaper or cardboard he could f ind. br itto has an inordinate passion to excel and prospered academical ly. St i l l , br itto’s art ist ic nature eventual ly led him to seek experiences outside the c lassroom.

romero britto traveled to europe in 1983 to examine f irsthand the art of the masters. after exhibit ing in a few gal ler ies and pr ivate shows, britto was encouraged to travel to the united States where Pop art was f lourishing. br itto moved to miami and set up a studio open to the publ ic . With an unshakable resolve and bel ief in his art , br itto spent the next few years exhibit ing and attract ing the attention of many. then, in 1989, absolut Vodka® selected britto to design an artwork with their famous logo. br itto’s part ic ipat ion added his name to a l ist of art ists , such as Warhol and Haring, a lso commissioned for the famed vodka campaign. br itto’s studio in miami beach was quickly becoming known as the place for people of a l l ages and walks of l i fe to meet and acquire a unique style of art .

romero britto today is represented in gal ler ies and museums across f ive continents. opening in Paris at the Carrousel du louvre, Salon nationale des beaux-arts , in december 2008, britto unvei led “Journey” to hundreds of guests . other unique art ist ic endeavors have f lourished. “…matisse channel ing Picasso,” wrote the new york times® when britto created a l iv ing canvas performed by the Cirque du Solei l in celebrat ion of Super bowl Xli .

romero britto artwork on canvas have found the spotl ight in numerous corporate commissions and noted art col lect ions. br itto’s repertoire includes l ikenesses of the late ernest beyeler, founder of art basel as wel l as the late robert rauschenberg. over 20 cit ies have britto sculpture as permanent instal lat ions. and, britto is the f irst art ist to display monumental sculpture in Hyde Park, london. His diverse resume also includes several series of postage stamp designs for the united nations Postal administrat ion and a postage stamp in brazi l that celebrates the 450th anniversary of the c ity of Sao Paulo. in 2010, romero britto wi l l launch his f irst chi ldren’s book, “my alphabet Playbook” that wi l l lead chi ldren through a colorful col lect ion of art ist ic learning.

romero britto is an art ist ic act iv ist for charitable organizat ions worldwide and most of a l l an art ist who bel ieves “art is too important not to share.” br itto donates to over 250 charitable organizat ions a year. not a s i lent act iv ist , br itto was a selected speaker for the arts at the World economic forum in davos, Switzerland in 2006, ’07, ’09 and ‘10. further, this year romero britto is proudly an inaugural founding benefactor of the Harvard international negotiat ion Program. britto is committed to developing and support ing the powerful role art wi l l continue to play in world issues.

biograPHY

A n d y W A r h o l r o M E r o B r I T T o

Roma Via del Babuino, 5300187

Miami4141 Building4141 NE 2nd AvenueSuite 105F - Miami, FL. 33137

e.mail: info@ca-doro.comwebsite: www.ca-doro.comRoma | Miami

Realizzazione Grafica | Mario Peragallo | Mobile 347 5320617 | email: solelunadesign@libero.it

A n d y W A r h o l r o M E r o B r I T T o

C u r a t e d b y G l o r i a P o r C e l l a a n d l a m b e r t o P e t r e C C a