Andy Warhol
‚Little Electric Chairs‘

New York

Venus Over Manhattan is presenting Little Electric Chairs, an exhibition referring to Andy Warhol’s Electric Chair silkscreen print series. The show displays paintings from the ‘60s belonging to his Death and Disaster series.

Warhol is known for turning every imagery he touches into mass media culture. Even though his most famous works feature celebrity icons, many of his series were about controversial topics. Race riots, suicide, criminals, car crashed the pop artist represented them all. Along with one of the most litigious American symbol, the electric chair. The paintings on view at Venus over Manhattan were realized in 1963, the year final execution was banned in New York state. Yet it was still a sanction in other American states. The contentious Little Electric Chairs therefore aim at recalling mass media’s exploitation of graphic imagery. Poet and curator Gerard Malanga wrote that ‘adding pretty colors to a cipher as gruesome as this would change people’s perception of acceptance.‘

Andy Warhol, Twelve Electric Chairs, 1964, Acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas, 92 x 88 1/3 inches

Andy Warhol, Little Electric Chairs, 1964, Acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas, 22 x 28 inches

Venus Over Manhattan

May 02 – June 25, 2016

980 Madison Avenue
3rd Floor
New York, NY 10075
USA

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