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Contact: Heather Guess or Mary Patton T: 216.409.0990 or 216.321.6746 E: hguess@the-human-fund.org September 12, 2007 Cleveland, OH - Pop Culture: An Homage to Warhol Saturday, October 13th, Idea Center at Playhouse Square An exhibition to benefit The Human Fund THE EXHIBIT: Pop Culture: An Homage to Warhol will present a museum quality exhibition of approximately twenty-five works of art comprised of works on paper, film, and sculpture by Andy Warhol and by artists such as Jasper Johns and Robert Motherwell. A catalog will accompany the exhibit examining Warhol's influences, body of work, and his profound effect on postmodern art and culture. This exhibition has been organized in collaboration with The Andy Warhol Museum of Pittsburgh, numerous private collectors, and galleries. Co-curated by Heather Zises, an independent curator from New York and Heather Guess, Human Fund Co-Founder and art historian, this collection of works will be presented for one-night-only viewing for event guests. Unlike the usual museum setting, the environment will allow for total immersion into the life and work of a single artist through a series of highly interactive events, displays and guest participation, providing the element of spectacle that Warhol himself would have enjoyed. Ms. Zises states, "I think it's important that the art world continues to celebrate great talents from the canon of art history. Specifically, Andy Warhol's artistic nihilism was a voice of a generation that continues to resonate with us today. What is unique about this particular exhibition is that we have a created a Warholian landscape—from The Factory to Studio 54 to floating Silver Clouds—that allows viewers to be immersed into Warhol's environment, replete with authentic paraphernalia." Featured Works: The exhibit, Pop Culture: An Homage to Warhol, will feature thirteen works by Andy Warhol (1928 – 1987) including several drawings, screenprints, film, a sculpture installation and other ephemera of the period. Also included in the exhibit are eleven works, which either influenced Warhol's oeuvre or were produced in collaboration with Warhol, by Robert Rauschenberg (b. 1925), Jasper Johns (b. 1930), Robert Motherwell (1915 - 1991) and Philippe Halsman (1906 – 1979). These artists all have the common thread of working in the wake of abstract expressionism, in which banal objects are used, in true Duchampian form, allowing artists to once again question what is a work of art. One of the exhibition highlights will be the viewing of Warhol's, Empire (1964), which was most recently part of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, spring exhibition "Out of Time: A Contemporary View." In Empire, Warhol casts a single stationary, eight-hour glance on the Empire State Building. Beginning at 8:06 p.m. on the eve of July 25th 1964, and running until 2:42 a.m. the next day. Devoid of traditional narrative, Warhol's voyeuristic eye brilliantly captures the passing of time and positions this heroic building as the central protagonist. Also on view will be a rare, artist proof, screenprint of Muhammad Ali (1978), which comes from the artist's estate. Muhammad Ali was one of the many pop culture icons portrayed by Warhol. Uncharacteristic of the majority of his oeuvre, which was often fey, effeminate, or homoerotic, this work from his Athlete Series was by far more macho. Yet Warhol links this series to his other iconic portraits when he stated while working on the series, "the sports stars of today are the movie stars of yesterday." Of the twenty-five works on exhibit, six will be sold in the live auction on the evening of the event on October 13th. These include Warhol's Committee 2000 (1982), After the Party (1979), Cow (1971), Sitting Bull (1986), Muhammad Ali (1978), and Shoes (1980). All of these works have the distinguished provenance of having come from the Andy Warhol Estate. The opportunity to view these works in such a unique setting as a recreated space of Andy Warhol's world will allow the viewer both the experience to view the work on walls as well as to experience live the legendary "Silver Factory," "Studio 54," and all of their accoutrements. For one evening guests can sip a cocktail and meander around the aforementioned works, much as the people in Warhol's setting would have done. And as the evening advances, the iconic images of ordinary objects remain on our minds. Even twenty years after his death, art historians and critics still dispute the legacy of Andy Warhol. We invite guests to make up their own minds on October 13th.