Press Release Andy Warhol: My Perfect Body Public Programs

For immediate release

Monday, August 8, 2016

The Andy Warhol Museum announces its public program series in conjunction with the exhibition Andy Warhol: My Perfect Body, on view October 21, 2016-January 22, 2017. The exhibition is the first comprehensive look at Andy Warhol’s engagement with the body, highlighting The Warhol’s permanent collection and including rarely traveled loans from the collections of major American museums.

To accompany the exhibition, The Warhol is offering six public programs. Events feature poet John Giorno and art historians Douglas Crimp and James Elkins, as well as include sketch parties for adults (21+) and teens, and an after-hours dance party.

My Perfect Body: 21+ Sip and Sketch
Thursday, November 17, 2016
6 p.m.
The Warhol entrance space
In conjunction with the exhibition Andy Warhol: My Perfect Body, join us for a nude drawing class led by artist educators. Sip a cocktail and sketch nude models in The Warhol’s entrance space. Participants take a tour of the exhibition with Jessica Beck, The Warhol’s associate curator of art. A cash bar is available.
Tickets $15 / $12 members; visit www.warhol.org or call 412.237.8300

My Perfect Body: John Giorno and Flaming Creatures Screening
Saturday, November 19, 2016
7 p.m.
Carnegie Museum of Art Theater (Oakland)
In conjunction with the exhibition Andy Warhol: My Perfect Body, poet John Giorno speaks with Jessica Beck, The Warhol’s associate curator of art, and Eric Crosby, Carnegie Museum of Art’s Richard Armstrong curator of modern and contemporary art, about his relationship to Andy Warhol and New York’s 1960s underground film culture. Jack Smith’s Flaming Creatures (1963, 45 minutes) is screened before the discussion. Flaming Creatures is a seminal avant-garde film that created national controversy for its graphic depiction of sexuality. Smith’s film, like many of Warhol’s, was about disrupting gender and sexuality norms and creating a new form of eroticism.
Free

My Perfect Body: Douglas Crimp and Before Pictures Reading
Thursday, December 8, 2016
7 p.m.
The Warhol theater
In conjunction with the exhibition Andy Warhol: My Perfect Body, Douglas Crimp reads from his 2016 memoir Before Pictures, which tells the story of Crimp’s life as a young gay man and art critic in New York City during the late 1960s through the turbulent 1970s. The details of his professional and personal life are interwoven in this history of New York City at that time, producing a vivid portrait of both the critic and his adopted city. Following the reading Jessica Beck, The Warhol’s associate curator of art, leads a Q&A focusing on the points of intersection between Crimp’s latest book, research, and the themes of the exhibition Andy Warhol: My Perfect Body. A book signing in The Warhol Store follows the event.
Free

My Perfect Body: Teen Sketch Party
Saturday, December 10, 2016
6 p.m.
The Factory
In conjunction with the exhibition Andy Warhol: My Perfect Body, join us for a sketch and pizza party for teens! Held in the education studio The Factory, teens create figure drawings layered with stamps, stenciled patterns, and Dr. Martin’s dyes, similar to Andy Warhol’s drawing technique in the 1950s. Teens can tour the exhibition with museum staff, discuss the pressures of body imagery in the media, and celebrate the imperfect and unusual. Registration is required by contacting Sarica Feng at fengs@warhol.org or 412.237.8356.
Free

My Perfect Body: Body Beats Dance Party Featuring Prince Rama
Friday, December 16, 2016
10 p.m.
The Warhol entrance space
In conjunction with the exhibition Andy Warhol: My Perfect Body, The Warhol and VIA present Body Beats, an after-hours dance party featuring Prince Rama, a psych- dance band from Brooklyn, comprised of sisters Taraka and Nimai Larson, with an immersive light installation by artist Kevin Clancy.
Tickets $15 / $12 members & students; visit www.warhol.org or call 412.237.8300

My Perfect Body: James Elkins Lecture
Friday, January 20, 2017
7 p.m.
The Warhol theater
In conjunction with the exhibition Andy Warhol: My Perfect Body, James Elkins speaks about the limits of the representation of the body in contemporary and postmodern art, with reference to Andy Warhol’s work. Building on the arguments that he established in his seminal text Pictures of the Body: Pain & Metamorphosis, Elkins for the first time makes the case that Warhol’s work is a model for problems of abstraction and body image. A Q&A lead by Jessica Beck, The Warhol’s associate curator of art, follows. This program serves as a closing event for the exhibition Andy Warhol: My Perfect Body.
Free

Andy Warhol: My Perfect Body is generously supported by Cadillac and UPMC Health Plan.

The Warhol receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; and The Heinz Endowments. Further support is provided by the Allegheny Regional Asset District.

The Andy Warhol Museum

Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the place of Andy Warhol’s birth, The Andy Warhol Museum holds the largest collection of Warhol’s artworks and archival materials and is one of the most comprehensive single-artist museums in the world. The Warhol is one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.

Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

Established in 1895 by Andrew Carnegie, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh is a collection of four distinctive museums: Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Science Center, and The Andy Warhol Museum. The museums reach more than 1.4 million people a year through exhibitions, educational programs, outreach activities, and special events.