Prague, Feb 22 (CTK) – The GOAP gallery in Prague opened an exhibition entitled Warhol/Warhola on the family background, life and work of U.S. pop-artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987), whose parents came from Slovakia, on the day of his 30th death anniversary yesterday.
The title of the exhibition reminds of the fact that the artist changed his name from Andrew Warhola to Andy Warhol.
The exhibition was prepared in cooperation with Slovak photographer Rudo Prekop who, along with Czech artist Michal Cihlar, is the author of the book Andy Warhol and Czechoslovakia.
Prekop decided to offer his rich archive, which he was creating for 30 years, to the GOAP gallery owner Zdenek Kocik.
He used the material to accompany the permanent exhibition dedicated to Warhol in his gallery on Old Town Square in Prague’s historical centre that he opened a few years ago.
“We display one-tenth of Prekop’s archive,” Kocik told CTK yesterday.
The exhibition presents unique documents and photographs, including those from Warhol’s funeral, and other artifacts on the gallery’s two floors.
The newly installed part shows Warhol’s family and origin. The connection between Warhol and Czechoslovakia is closed by the photographs taken by Prekop at the cemetery in the Mikova village where Warhol’s parent came from.
Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburgh to Ruthenian immigrants who came to the United States from north-east Slovakia. He studied graphic design at the Carnegie Institute of Technology.
In 1991, the Museum of Warhol in Medzilaborce, east Slovakia, near Mikova, was established as the first of this kind, with the aid of the artist’s relatives and the Andy Warhol Foundation in New York. The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh was opened only three years later.
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