Screening of Films by Andy Warhol

Thu 27 Oct 2011, 3 – 5 pm
DOCLAB

From DOCLAB:
Video Art Video continues our program with the Art films and Films on Art series. The first installment is the renown film by Andy Warhol: 13 most beautiful…songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests.

Andrew Warhola, Jr. (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987), known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became famous worldwide for his work as a painter, avant-garde filmmaker, record producer, author, and member of highly diverse social circles that included Bohemian street people, distinguished intellectuals, Hollywood celebrities and wealthy patrons. Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, and feature and documentary films. In his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, The Andy Warhol Museum exists in memory of his life and artwork.

Released in conjunction with The Andy Warhol Museum, 13 Most Beautiful…Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests features 13 of Warhol’s classic silent film portraits. Subjects include Nico, Lou Reed, Edie Sedgwick, Dennis Hopper, and more. Shot between 1964 and 1966 at Warhol’s Factory studio in New York City, the Screen Tests are presented with newly commissioned soundtracks performed by Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips. This is the first ever authorized DVD release of films by Andy Warhol. Between 1964 and 1966, Andy Warhol shot nearly 500 Screen Tests, beautiful and revealing portraits of hundreds of different individuals, from the famous to the anonymous, all visitors to his studio, the Factory. Subjects were captured in stark relief by a strong keylight, and filmed by Warhol with his stationary 16mm Bolex camera on silent, black and white, 100-foot rolls of film. The resulting two-and-a-half-minute film reels were then screened in slow motion, resulting in a fascinating collection of four-minute masterpieces that startle and entrance, mesmerizing in the purest sense of the word. Songwriters Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips, formerly of the band Luna and currently recording as Dean & Britta, incorporated original compositions as well as cover songs to create new soundtracks for the 13 films. The 13 Screen Tests included are Paul America, Susan Bottomly, Ann Buchanan, Freddy Herko, Jane Holzer (Toothbrush), Dennis Hopper, Billy Name, Nico, Richard Rheem, Lou Reed (Coke), Edie Sedgwick, Ingrid Superstar and Mary Woronov.

The screening is non-profit and aims for studies and research only.

Following the screening is Q&A session.

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