Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoCA) is hosting an exhibition by acclaimed yet controversial American Pop artist Andy Warhol. This would be the fourth show after the restoration of the museum and the first time Warhol's works have been exhibited together independently. Known to own the biggest collection of modern Western masterpieces outside of Europe and North America, all the exhibited works are from TMoCA's own collection, among which, one has never been on a public show before.
Comprising of 28 pieces, PERSONA also features two video works including Eat (1964), in which Warhol captures the simple act of eating mushrooms by his colleague Robert Indiana.
"The key to understanding Warhol is to understand the importance of persona in his life. It is Andy Warhol's persona that is familiar to us and not Warhol as he truly was," said Amir Rad, curator of the Exhibition. "…it is an opportunity to remove layers covering Warhol's face by taking a different look at his work. His face is that of a pioneer artist who was the embodiment of Joseph Beuys's ideas about social sculpture; where the artist's life is his artwork, and the artist's lived experience blurs the distance between art and life."
Among notable works on view are ten portraits of Mao and the famous Campbell's Soup Cans as well as screen prints of Jacqueline Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe.
Established in 1977, TMoCA was designed by Iranian architect Kamran Diba, who employed elements from traditional Persian architecture. It is estimated that approximately £2.5 billion worth of modern art is held at the museum.
Andy Warhol's PERSONA at Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoCA)
July 8, 2021