Andy Warhol ©1968 Bob Broder
Around the U.S., not everyone sees Arizona as we who live here do. "Tucson?" folks in more urban areas sometimes sneer. "But there's no culture there!"
That attitude is proven wrong by the ambitious exhibit "Warhol: From Dylan to Duchamp" at Eric Firestone Gallery Downtown Exhibition Space, 403 N. 6th Ave., through April 25.
Just when one might think nothing more could be said about legendary 60s Pop Art fixture Andy Warhol, along comes this cache of rare, previously unseen shots of Warhol taken by local photographer Bob Broder.
As a "stringer" for The Arizona Republic, Broder now 72 snapped unguarded pictures of Warhol at work on the Old Tucson Studios and Rancho Linda Vista sets of his1968 film Lonesome Cowboys. Says Broder of Warhol, "He had high heels. He didn't bother me, and I didn't bother him." Andy was never a stranger to controversy, though: a rape scene in the underground sex-Western sparked an FBI investigation for transportation of obscene material across state lines when Warhol returned to New York with the picture.
Broder's work, along with Nat Finklestein, is emphasized and appears alongside that of photography giants Robert Mapplethorpe, Helmut Newton, Annie Leibovitz, and more. A continuous screening of Warhol Out West, a Super-8 piece on the making of Lonesome Cowboys by the late Charles Littler (the Tucson artist who invited Warhol here to film), accompanies the exhibit.
A 120-page limited-edition catalog by guest curator and TASCHEN America photo book editor Eric Kroll will document the show; Kroll describes it as a work of "gonzo guerrilla publishing" capturing this "rare and unusual" collection. Kroll said it was exhilarating to find "Bob Broder who hadn't done anything with his negatives from 1968 in over 40 years." He also flew to Woodstock to meet with Finklestein's widow, Elizabeth. In the book's introduction, Kroll says "Hour after hour I'd look at photos and ask questions, and she'd give me data. How does someone who was born in the seventies know so much about the sixties? 'Nat didn't stop talking to me for 8 years.'"
And that's only the tip of the Warhol iceberg drifting into town. The Tucson Museum of Art at 140 N. Main Ave. offers up "Andy Warhol Portfolios: Life & Legends" until July 3, with colorful, iconic portraits of Muhammad Ali and Marilyn Monroe from the Bank of America Collection appearing alongside the full portfolio of Campbell's Soup II, 1967.
In conjunction, TMA's monthly "Picture This! Art For Families" program for March will be "Wonder of Warhol," featuring a Warhol-inspired puppet show put together by Puppets Amongus and a hands-on silkscreening project. This free event for children 6-12 years and their grownups will be held Sunday, March 7 at 1 p.m.
Wednesday, March 10, TMA's "Art Talk" series topic will be "Andy Warhol: Famous For More Than 15 Minutes." Docent Council member Rebecca Huber will discuss Warhol's significance in the Education Center Auditorium at 1:30 p.m. Her insights are free with museum admission.
Hungry for more? You grooved to Under Velvetground at The Rialto Theatre's "Imploding Silicone Improbable" party last month and now can't get enough Andy? Warhol revival craziness hits The Loft Cinema with their presentation of Lonesome Cowboys Thursday, March 4 at 8 p.m. Admission is $10 general or $8 for Loft and Tucson Museum of Art members, with a Warholesque costume contest prior to the movie's start. That's not all: The Loft has Warhol films all month. Bring a can of Campbell's soup to any of their Warhol nights in March to be entered into a Pop Raffle for a Warhol-themed prize.
Let the Californians scoff. Tucson's embrace of all things Warhol is world-class.
