Stuck on Warhol

A creative sticker campaign has the Pop artist in the spotlight once again.

by a.d. amorosi

Was Andy Warhol an empty-headed, self-promotional, voyeuristic space cadet or a shrewd, manipulative examiner of politics and sociology with a sarcastic, hands-on approach to commenting on such? It is the latter Warhol the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts perpetuates with "Andy Warhol: Social Observer," an exhibit of paintings, prints, photographs and film opening this weekend that proves the artist’s relevance in this, the digital age.

For all of Andy’s humorously jaundiced looks at society, PAFA’s show explodes most the mediated Warhol, the cult of personality he invented by making himself the medium and the message. For all the superstars he invented, he was his finest creation. In dedication to that, PAFA’s show lovingly observes one cardinal rule: Hype Andy!

And where hype is concerned, GYRO Worldwide can’t be far behind. Which is one reason why PAFA hired the progressive Center City agency to create an ad campaign for the Warhol exhibit.

"Warhol’s the granddaddy of a lot of the things we do and how we view ourselves, other people, symbols and society," says GYRO account executive Peter Grasse, the man responsible for the synergy between museum and ad firm. To help explode the Warhol exhibit, GYRO came up with The Guerilla Campaign, a promotional package that would "give Warhol as a character a new relevancy as well as breathing fresh air into PAFA."

Grasse and fellow account exec Matthew Durington enlisted Space 1026, a progressive art collaborative/gallery at 1026 Arch St., to create their own vision of Andy. Grasse asked 1026 co-founder Andrew Jeffrey Wright to pull together artists who could make Warhol new for 2000 by using Warholian ideals. Then came the idea to do colorful stickers and wheat-pasted posters of the New Andys. Having GYRO’s art director, Oscar Betancur, flash ’em up and give them slogans was the final ingredient in the Guerrilla formula.

"It’s a way to produce really good visible art… and act as a commemorative piece," says Grasse. "The posters are silk screened and beautiful. The stickers are fun. Stickers are a cool medium… they attach themselves to ordinary objects and give them life and meaning — like my fridge."

They may also have been a bit of trouble, what with the Old City Special Services District complaining the stickers and posters were illegally pasted up around the city. No sooner than complaints had been lodged, the Special Services District began to help PAFA and GYRO remove the offending items and redistribute them to "appropriate" venues like galleries, coffee shops and public bulletin boards.

Each artist found his or her own way to Warhol. Benjamin James Woodward’s vision of Andy is a simple fright-wigged caricature that looks remarkably like the Warhol David Bowie portrayed in the film Basquiat. While the original was done in neutral colors in pen and ink, Betancur utilized the Warholian technique of repetition, splashed bold colors and tagged it "Warhol in Technicolor."

"It’s hard not be influenced by Warhol’s work," says Woodward, pointing to Warhol’s transformation of technical elements of design into beauty. He goes on to say that it is GYRO’s Guerilla manipulation of Warhol that most intrigues him. "It’s kind of ironic that we’ve created a media circus — such a Warhol thing. I thought people nowadays would be more media savvy. But everyone’s blown this out of proportion. It’s surprising."

While Woodward went for simplicity, Edward Brogna’s India ink drawing takes GYRO’s guerilla masking one step further by making Andy into Che Guevara wearing a black beret against a red background. GYRO’s tag? "Warhol Has An Army."

Clare E. Rojas, a notorious gouache painter, went for a colorful line drawing — Andy as Mr. Rogers with blue button-down shirt and pale yellow jacket — that’s more folk art than Pop Art. "I’m no expert on Warhol," says Rojas, who keyed into the flat bright colors of Warhol’s most famous works, like his images of Marilyn Monroe, that are so much a part of mass-reproductive media techniques. "But I love the idea of using the media as a tool, the ideas of what artists can use as tools in general. Like advertising. He knew how to use the images that would be in people’s faces every day." Her strength-in-repetition aesthetic is furthered by GYRO’s tagging her work with the headline "Warhol Seen In Philadelphia."

The funniest of all the works may be Space 1026 pointman Wright’s take, both on Andy and on kitsch at large.

"If something doesn’t make me laugh I usually don’t pay attention to it," says Wright, whose "Warhol Poker" is a takeoff on the famously stupid image of dogs playing poker. "I sat down and came up with a bunch of silly ideas — wearing a bra full of mashed potatoes, Warhol’s head attached to other sketches." He settled on the absurdist drawing of Warhol with a handful of cards, sitting at a game table between two big dogs. "I’m not commenting that Andy’s work has become as commonplace as that. I like Warhol, more his vibe than his actual work," says Wright. "I just like to juxtapose things not normally associated with each other."

"There was so much funny stuff," says Betancur, who chose the artists for their humor and directness.

"The stickers, the campaign, the hype — it gets the message across. That’s what we meant by ‘Warhol Seen In Philadelphia.’ We want him to be seen."

Andy Warhol: Social Observer, June 17-Sept. 21, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Broad and Cherry Sts., 215-972-7600. The Guerilla Campaign will also be on view on throughout August at G-Mart, 38 N. Third St.