GALLERY REVIEW: "And That's How We Escaped: Reflections on Warhol" @ ICA

"And That's How We Escaped: Reflections on Warhol" - one of three shows currently on view at the ICA - tells the story of that night and reflects on its significance through careful arrangement of memorabilia, drawings, sculpture and photographs.

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GALLERY REVIEW: "And That's How We Escaped: Reflections on Warhol" @ ICA

POSTED: Tuesday, July 5, 2011, 1:00 PM

Warhol and Sedgewick

On October 8, 1965, the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) opened its doors to a record crowd of over 700 people. The occasion? Andy Warhol’s first solo exhibition, with the artist himself set to make an appearance.

Upon arrival, Warhol and his entourage, including muse Edie Sedgewick, ascended a spiral staircase, remaining there throughout the evening as people continued to arrive in droves. When it became clear they would not be able to make it out the front door, Warhol et al. — in dramatic style — climbed further up the stairs and escaped through a rooftop opening.

“And That’s How We Escaped: Reflections on Warhol” — one of three shows currently on view at the ICA — tells the story of that night and reflects on its significance through careful arrangement of memorabilia, drawings, sculpture and photographs.

Though it recalls a larger-than-life event, the exhibit itself is understated. The show consists of four displays set against the gallery’s painted white walls.

A block of text stenciled onto the wall describes the night's events. To the right, a large black-and-white photograph of Edie Sedgewick taken at the show’s opening shows her smiling broadly as she leans over the railing of the gallery’s staircase — teasing, or perhaps taunting, the people below.

On the opposite wall, a sculptural rendering of the same iron staircase seems to emanate from and disappear back into the wall itself. Brightly colored wire flowers fill the gaps between each railing.

Also included in the exhibition is a glass display case containing a variety of objects, including an invitation printed on the back of a Campbell’s soup can label, a press release sent out by the ICA announcing the event, and a silkscreen print of S&H green stamps done by the artist. A series of photographs hung on the adjacent wall depict Warhol, Sedgewick and Sam Green, the show’s curator and director of the ICA from 1964 to 1967, on the night of the opening.

“And That’s How We Escaped” is as much about nostalgia and the rise of the artist-as-celebrity as it is about art. Though Warhol’s work had attracted a significant following by the mid-1960s, the artist himself soon gained even greater notoriety. Creating iconic pop-art renderings of public figures like Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe inside his New York City “factory,” Warhol and the lifestyle he embodied appealed to an entire generation. By the fall of 1965, however, the artist had yet to put on a standalone museum exhibition. Warhol’s show at the ICA marked a turning point in his career, establishing him as a fixture in both the art world and popular culture and elevating him to a new level of stardom.

Through August 7, free, Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 S. 36th St., 215-898-7108, icaphila.org.

(clare.foran@citypaper.net)

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