Andy Warhol Artist Rooms at firstsite

Published 4th April 2016

The current exhibition at Colchester’s firstsite is a standout one. It features work by Pop Art founder Andy Warhol, with complementary exhibitions by two artists influenced by his work – Hattie Stewart and Camille Walala.

The ultra-contemporary firstsite building is a great setting for the exhibition. There are several rooms with Warhol works, and a range of posters from previous Warhol exhibitions across the world. The only Marilyn Monroe you will see (other than through the gifts in the shop) is on one of these posters. And the Campbell’s soup cans are seen in dinky little kits you can buy for your children to take into an area and create their own pop art.

There’s plenty of space to let some of these large pictures breathe. Our last modern art exhibition trip was up to London to see a recent Hockney exhibition, and that was heaving! There are some informative panels, helping you to understand more about the prints and the paintings. Here are some pix :

We were also taken by local artist Hattie Stewart’s work in response to Warhol’s ’15 minutes of fame’ concept, in a room plastered with modified celebrity magazine covers, and some clever ‘lenticular’ posters that changed as you walked past them :

Well done to the firstsite team for getting such a major artist!