Our Fashion Director Karen Binns discovers Tate Modern's Andy Warhol Exhibition

“Knowing Warhol in the 1980s, I’ve finally had the chance to witness the best interpretation of his work since his death”: Our Fashion Director Karen Binns takes a look at Tate Modern's first retrospective of Andy Warhol’s work in over 20 years

This month, the unforgettable pop culture artist and icon Andy Warhol arrived at Tate Modern to wake up London’s forever hungry art students and pop-art enthusiasts to a fresh new interpretation of Warhol’s work. From the legendary Interview Magazine covers and famous silkscreen images of celebrities to a room filled with his iconic silver floating balloons, Warhol is known as the man who made a simple household cleaning product (The Brillo Pad) a work of art and exploded into the pop-art movement.

Knowing Warhol in the 1980s, I’ve finally had the chance to witness the best interpretation of his work since his death. It was as if I was discovering a brand new artist, seamlessly exciting and enticing a new audience to his work. What was also interesting about this fresh curation, was a more personal sensibility to Warhol himself including another room with black and white movie shorts that take you closer to his early experimental days. As this is the first retrospective of Warhol’s work at the Tate in almost 20 years, I can guarantee it’s well worth the wait! Hopefully there will be a chance to check it out once we’ve controlled this hideous coronavirus pandemic. It’s on display at the Tate until 6 September— find more info here.

“This major retrospective is the first Warhol exhibition at Tate Modern for almost 20 years. As well as his iconic pop images of Marilyn Monroe, Coca-Cola and Campbell’s soup cans, it includes works never seen before in the UK. Twenty-five works from his Ladies and Gentlemen series – portraits of black and Latinx drag queens and trans women – are shown for the first time in 30 years. Visitors can also seee his floating Silver Clouds and experience the psychedelic multimedia environment of the Exploding Plastic Inevitable.”