Andy Warhol’s ‘Shadows’ finds space to shine at MOCA

Andy Warhol’s exhibition, “Shadows,” on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles from Sept. 20 to Feb. 15, is the first West Coast presentation of Warhol’s vast painting made up of 102 collective parts.

MOCA presents a rare opportunity to see the 102 canvases, silk-screened and hand-painted with distorted photographs of shadows, the way Warhol intended them to be seen: in their entirety. The exhibit in many ways embodies the same impersonality that makes up the artist’s volume of work.  Critics of the artist like Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times have interpreted the “overblown installation” as “vapid and pretentious.” Knight fails to value the depth of Warhol’s irony, however, mistaking it for mere shallowness.

The repetitive and mechanical nature of the 6-foot tall, 4-foot wide panels is a complete manifestation of Warhol’s ability to captivate consumer culture with a mass production of “impersonal” pop art. Comparable to his mid-’60s exhibition featuring sculptures nearly identical to Brillo soapboxes or his silk-screened soup cans, “Shadows” reflects the artist’s desire to provoke audiences into questioning what art is, exactly. In fact, the photographic source of the shadows continues to remain a mystery widely debated among art historians.

Warhol’s persona is alive and well in the exhibit.  Using the same indistinguishable subject over and over again and the detached technique of the silk-screen, Warhol captures the mind-numbing reality ubiquitous in much of the American post-World War II art movement.

“Shadows” is a departure from Warhol’s iconic silk-screens of famous portraits such as Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor and his experimentation with abstraction. Similar to Warhol’s other abstract works, including “Camouflage,” “Oxidation” and “Rorschach,” “Shadows” could be seen as a mocking tribute to abstract expressionists like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko.

While it is certainly a fantastic opportunity to see the complete collection of “Shadows,” MOCA’s exhibition space undermines the full potential of the painting.  The large set of canvases is divided among two large rooms that fragment them, creating a monotonous, underwhelming atmosphere. The gallery places a great deal of thought into the selection of work from the museum’s permanent collection adjacent to the exhibit titled “Concrete Infinity.” The purpose of “Concrete Infinity” is to take viewers into the alluring, dark corners of Warhol’s “Shadows” aiming to conjure thoughts of “dancing bodies, ecstasy, and social and sexual encounter.”

When “Shadows” was first displayed in SoHo’s Heiner Friedrich Gallery in 1979, the boldly monochromatic paintings featuring the artist’s signature hues — midnight blue, carmine red and chartreuse — caused one observer to write:

“The show only looks good because it’s so big.”

The observer happened to be Warhol himself; his self-deprecation reveals even more about the abstract concepts behind the paintings that Warhol described not as art, but rather as “disco decor.”

The enigmatic nature of the paintings combined with their flashy duo-color facades are, as Warhol believed, meant to furnish the walls of a nightclub like Studio 54 or play backdrop to a photo shoot.  It is true; for some reason the seemingly insipid paintings are able to evoke a glamorous ’70s atmosphere. One cannot help but imagine themselves in a dimly lit club, filled with strung out models and enveloped by walls covered with “Shadows.” On their own, the paintings do not stand out for any clear uniqueness or meaning, but when you indulge in a mini photo shoot in front of them along with friends, you’ll have realized Warhol’s sardonic intent.