Gotta hand it to your man Andy. He’s been dead almost 30 years and in China, even now, he’s still big news when he comes to town. He still packs in local crowds. He commands a cover charge (80rmb). He was “The King of Pop Art” back in 2008, and then he was “15 Minutes Eternal” back in 2013, and now at the Yuz Museum, we’re all still standing in Andy Warhol’s Shadows.









This is B-sides Andy Warhol — one of his later works done in 1978 a good decade and a half after he sat down and “invented” pop art. Commissioned by Lone Star Foundation (now Dia Art Foundation) Shadows is really just one painting in 83 parts. It’s 83 of variations of the same silkscreen, with acrylic hand-painting on top to differentiate the series in gradients and colors. Actually, Shadows, as it was originally done, started in 102 parts but only 83 fit into the original gallery space. It didn’t matter. They got the idea. The Shanghai version, which comes courtesy of the same Dia Art Foundation is only 72 of the original exhibited canvases. It doesn’t matter. You get the idea.

But yeah, this is Warhol in 1978, beyond the Brillo boxes, Marilyn Monroes, and soup cans, not to mention the attempt on his life at the end of the ‘60s. This is around the time he got really into television stating, “ When I got my first television set, I stopped caring so much about having close relationships.” He did his own television show two years later, which is something the supporting documentation explicitly references. It was supposed to be a fashion magazine on a television show, which is like nothing on nothing. Check it out.

Shadows is abstract expressionist in its lack of figuration. The subject matter is “a photo of a shadow in [his] office. It’s a silk screen that [he] mopped over with paint.” So, let’s see: It’s a silkscreen of a photo of a shadow, with no one representation standing in as the original.

It’s a picture of a picture of a picture of a picture of nothing. It’s a lot of nothing.

He even left the assemblage of the exhibition up to his assistants, which adds another layer of divorce to the whole thing if you really want to think about it.







Being swaddled in Warhol’s nothingness is still kinda neat. It’s like a phantasm spreading through a film reel, all dripped in this brash ‘70s New York-ness plastic vibe. It’s really great decor, which is what Warhol himself said about the work(s): “Someone asked me if they were art and I said no. You see, the opening party had disco. I guess that makes them disco decor.”

The supporting documentation calls them “mesmerizing” and they are — for exactly 15 minutes. And then it’s time to move on with your life and try to get a Didi back to civilization.

Is it worth it? If you’re a huge fan, you should go. If you despise Andy Warhol and don’t rate his stuff at all, you should go as well. These sorts of things are for those two types of people, really. Hate and love. Happiness and anger. If you’re in the middle on it, probably the blog article on the pictures of nothing will suffice.

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Andy Warhol's Shadows is on until December 18 at the Yuz Museum. The entry fee is 80rmb. 10.30am to 5.30pm, daily. Closed on Mondays.