Adman

With the backdrop of 1950s New York and its burgeoning advertising industry, Adman: Warhol before pop focuses on the formative years of one of the 20th century’s most influential artists. It provides insights into the beginning of Andy Warhol’s career, from his award-winning work as a commercial illustrator through to his first, little-known exhibitions prior to his rise as an icon of the 1960s.

Developed by the Art Gallery of New South Wales in partnership with The Andy Warhol Museum, Adman presents new research on the artist’s pre-pop output. It features over 300 objects, many of which have never before been placed on public display, and is among the most comprehensive early Warhol shows ever assembled.

Including original drawings, artist books, commercial art, private projects, personal ephemera and photographs, the exhibition examines the co-evolution of Warhol the adman and Warhol the artist. It foregrounds his formal innovation, his disregard for boundaries between ‘fine’ and ‘commercial’ art, and his merging of high and low cultural forms, all of which contributed to a thorough re-imagining of American art in the decades that followed.
Curated by Nicholas Chambers the exhibition is a collaboration between the Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney and The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh.