NEW YORK (AP) — The 25-foot long "Camouflage Last Supper," one of Andy Warhol's last and most personal works, floods a full wall of a room on the fifth floor of the Whney Mm of Amerin Art. The massive acrylic and silkscreen mural ptur the artist's seemgly ntradictory piety and irreverence. It's one of more than 350 works on display the largt retrospective of Warhol's prolific reer nearly 30 years. While Warhol's style has remaed ubiquo sce his ath 1987, even the most vout pop-art nnoissrs n learn much om "Andy Warhol — From A to B and Back Aga." It clus famo works as well as material on view for the first time. Newly revealed rmatn about the pafully private artist's life adds new dimensns to our unrstandg of him and his work. "There is somethg his work that speaks to our ntemporary culture," said Donna De Salvo, the Whney's puty director for ternatnal iativ and senr curator, who anized the exhibn wh Christie Mchell and Mark Loiano. "There is punch Warhol's work, there's mystery, and 's not easy to know what's gog on." "Camouflage Last Supper" b an amplified photo prt of Leonardo da Vci's inic 15th-century mural wh a green-and-brown mouflage pattern om a fabric swatch. Created 1986 amid the AIDS crisis that vastated the New York Cy gay muny and art world, "Camouflage Last Supper" lays bare the artist's nflicted emotns as a gay man and a Byzante Catholic. Warhol's ep fah was ltle-known outsi of his tight-kn relig muny. His parents were Ruthenians, born a village the foothills of the Carpathian Mountas, at the northern borr of the Atro-Hungarian Empire. On one hand, Warhol was a fixture at downtown Manhattan's hottt nightclubs, flanked by glamoro mols, actors, rock stars and drag queens. The same man vised the Church of St. Vcent Ferrer on the Upper East Si nearly daily. He would hi the back of the church on Sundays for fear of beg outed, and often slipped out before Holy Communn to reta his ghostlike prence. He slept near a ccifix shre, wore a cross unr his tramark black turtlenecks, and rried a rosary his pocket. Warhol's reer start as a mercial illtrator of women's footwear quickly evolved as he garnered attentn for his flamboyance and reprentatns of Amerin mercialism, such as his famo pictns of Campbell's Soup ns and portras of celebri and world lears. The Warhol art that everyone knows enpass the fifth floor of the Whney, cludg "Green Co-Cola Bottl," Brillo Box sculptur, and self-portras, wh a multi-room gallery stallatn of his lorful silk-screened flowers imposed on shockg pk ws. The repetn of sign and mixed cultural imag Warhol's art feels faiar a digal age, which he arguably anticipated and forhadowed. Along wh his hidn fah, Warhol's philanthropic si was overshadowed by his reputatn as a proponent of Bs Art. The real Warhol transcend and subverted his fortune and sweepg fame. He provid fundg for a soup kchen operated by the (Epispal) Church of the Heavenly Rt on Manhattan's Upper East Si, and volunteered there. He paid semary tun for a nephew who wanted to bee a prit. One of Warhol's most important llaborators was Jean-Michael Basquiat, wh whom he began workg the 1980s. Basquiat died of a dg overdose 1988 at age 27, about a year and a half after Warhol died at age 58 of a sudn, postoperative arrhythmia. While their time together was short, produced hundreds of powerful works. On view si-by-si at the Whney are Basquiat's and Warhol's acrylic-on-nvas llaboratns "Paramount" (1984-85) and "Third Eye" (1985), both on loan om a private llector. "Paramount" embodi both artists' absorptn palism, polics and celebry. Also om a private llectn, Warhol's "Superman" (1961) is a harsh crique of the machismo of Abstract Exprsnist "actn" patg; offers a suggtively queer versn of the superhero. Bis the artworks (which clu some of Warhol's films), the exhibn also clus ephemera and scholarship that unvers new trici about the artist we thk we unrstand, while lnchg a Warhol for the 21st century. "For me, the most potent stuff is the later work," De Salvo says. "Some of is mystifyg, but 's still askg qutns. It feels as though mak Warhol a live issue aga." "Andy Warhol — From A to B and Back Aga" ns through March 31, 2019, at the Whney Mm of Amerin Art. It travels to the San Francis Mm of Morn Art (May 18-Sept. 2,) and the Art Instute of Chigo (Oct. 20, 2019-Jan. 26, 2020). Tickets are available onle. ___ Onle:
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WAS J GAY? PROBABLY
<p><strong>Pl Otreicher:</strong> I preached on Good Friday that J's timacy wh John suggted he was gay as I felt eply had to be addrsed</p> * last supper gay *
I felt I uld not pe the sufferg of gay and lbian people at the hands of the church, over many that divisive issue a subject for Good Friday? The evince, on the other hand, that he may have been what we today ll gay is very strong. But even gay rights mpaigners the church have been reluctant to suggt .
He dared to suggt that possibily and was met wh disda, as though he were simply out to much reflectn and wh certaly no wish to shock, I felt I was left wh no optn but to suggt, for the first time half a century of my Anglin prithood, that J may well have been homosexual. Heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual: J uld have been any of the. The homosexual optn simply seems the most likely.
Although there is no rabbic tradn of celibacy, J uld well have chosen to rea om sexual activy, whether he was gay or not. I saw as an act of penence for the sufferg and persecutn of homosexual people that still persists many parts of the church.
A VERY GAY ‘LAST SUPPER’ SAN FRANCIS
Tomorrow is Mndy Thursday, memoratg the Last Supper (of J and his apostl) Christian tradn, most famoly reprented a late 15th century mural patg by Leonardo da Vci -- a patg often parodied, playful, poted, and liberately sacrileg ways. Includg many turng on genr and sexualy. For stance, this 2017 Italian gay… * last supper gay *
Whether J was gay or straight no way affects who he was and what he means for the world today. What matters this ntext is that there are many gay and lbian followers of J – ordaed and lay – who, spe the church, remarkably and humbly rema s fahful members. As the art cric Kenh Clark not, the pater “gladly allowed his homosexualy to perate to the pth of his beg.
Gayety: This project is sure to ffle some feathers, pecially given the timg of the release.
GAY ‘LAST SUPPER’ SPARKS OUTRAGE
Say you are a God-fearg Christian, not puranil but also not one to take blasphemy lightly. How would you feel about a gay ftival promotn that * last supper gay *
Gayety: Tell a ltle b about your background or experience wh Christiany, posive or negative.
Gay Hbner shar memori of fay breakfast, cheap we, good girliends, bad dat, and how a good meal bds together. * last supper gay *
Gayety: So many queer folks of all ag are jt now begng to unpack the relig trma they faced growg up. Gayety: How do you thk this project, or projects like , might help queer folks rencile their fah and their sexualy? Gayety: The project is tly a feast of the ey.
One of Ameri’s most beloved artists kept a secret. Andy Warhol — pop artist and gay in — was also a lifelong Catholic who went to mass regularly at a church New York Cy’s Upper East Si. * last supper gay *
Gayety: So much harm is beg done right now to queer people the Uned Stat the name of Christiany. Gayety: After the Pearls shoot, and now this, we are dyg to know what’s next, and how folks n support your work.
Showtime’s Black Monday turned the Last Supper to a homoerotic scene wh “J” makg out wh one of his apostl and Mary Magdalene. ’ on Sunday, June 20, Tiffany Pfaff (Casey Wilson), who ns a clothg pany marketed to Christian women, disvers that her cloth are also popular wh gay men. She and the pany’s fancial advisor, Keh (Pl Scheer), therefore ci to create a homoerotic scene om the Bible to both market the Pfaffashns le and honor someone killed at the funeral of an evangelil Christian pastor.
The dispute began on March 12 wh the openg of “Relign, Flh and Power, ” a llectn of about 50 patgs, drawgs and sculptur – some wh homoerotic them – by Atrian artist Aled Hrdlicka. For stance, this 2017 Italian gay male versn:.