Marisol & Andy - on the crest of Pop
Marisol - Paris Review - 1967Andy Warhol - Three Coke Bottles - 1962
From 15 April to 5 September 2022, the Pérez Art Museum Miami presents "Marisol and Warhol Take New York", an exhibition that explores the artistic careers of Marisol Escobar and Andy Warhol -as well as the friendship between the two artists- during the 1960s, at the height of Pop art.
G. Fernández · theartwolf.com ·· Images: Marisol Escobar, "Paris Review", 1967. Museum of Modern Art, New York. © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY. 2021 Estate of Marisol / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York ·· Andy Warhol, "Three Bottles of Coca-Cola", 1962. The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; © 2021 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
35 years after his death, Andy Warhol is omnipresent. From multiple exhibitions of his paintings and prints, to documentaries showing his most (in)human side, to the announcement of the auction of one of his "shot" Marilyns with a presale estimate in the region of $200 million, nobody seems to dispute Warhol's place as the king of pop art and as one of the most relevant -and of course controversial- figures of 20th century art.
But Warhol was far from alone during the development and heyday of pop art in the United States. Born in 1930 in Paris, the daughter of Venezuelan parents, María Sol (Marisol) Escobar (1930-2016) was one of Warhol's closest friends and collaborators -appearing in two films created by the American artist between 1963 and 1964, "The Kiss" and "13 Most Beautiful Girls"- as well as carrying out an important artistic production. But unlike Warhol, the work of Marisol Escobar, much admired during the 1960s, has been partially (and unjustly) forgotten. This exhibition, in the words of Jessica Beck, curator at the Andy Warhol Museum “is one step towards redefining Marisol's place in art history as a protagonist of the 1960s Pop movement".
"Marisol and Warhol Take New York" includes works that show the two artists' shared interests, such as their depictions of Coca-Cola bottles, as well as two of Marisol Escobar's best-known works: "The Family" (1963), a sculpture that the Pérez Art Museum describes as "a family centered around a matronly matriarch, a work that stands in stark contrast to Pop Art’s typical glamorous depiction of women and instead offers a glimpse of motherhood and femininity rooted in realism", and "The Party", created on the occasion of the 1968 Venice Biennale.
"Marisol was influenced by both Latin Art and American art, and her work embodies an international multiculturalism that makes sharing this exhibition with our Miami community, a crossroads between the Latin and American worlds, even more exciting," explained Maritza Lacayo, Curatorial Assistant at the Pérez Art Museum. "This show is about giving Marisol her rightful place within the Pop art movement and PAMM has always made it a priority to tell these types of stories—stories that have been lost through the dominant art historical narrative”.

Read the full article