Pop art icon in Glen Ellyn: Andy Warhol exhibition an eyeful

It’s pop art nirvana walking into a gallery full of iconic images – from Campbell’s soup cans to Marilyn Monroe – in this summer’s Andy Warhol retrospective in the Cleve Carney Museum of Art and the McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn.

The exhibition, which follows 2021′s blockbuster “Frida Kahlo: Timeless,” continues through Sept. 10.

Visitors will experience Warhol’s life through interactive exhibits, recreations and videos created exclusively for this show, including a Kids Pop Art Print Factory, Studio 54 Experience, Central Park-inspired outdoor area and the “Silver Clouds” installation room, where like Warhol, the viewer gets to guide the flight of giant pillowy helium-filled silver balloons. Also featured are events including lectures by internationally renowned authors and Warhol experts, workshops and concerts.

“It is truly an honor to have the opportunity to present work by an artist who embodies so much of the American dream; he captured American culture, iconography and society in such a relatable way,” MAC Executive Director Diana Martinez said in a news release.

In total, more than 200 original Warhol works and photographs are on display, including the 94 artworks comprising “Andy Warhol Portfolios: A Life in Pop, Works from the Bank of America Collection” and an array of 150 Warhol photographs and original artworks from the College of DuPage’s permanent art collection.

Andy Warhol (American, 1928–1987) is one of the most recognizable artists of the second half of the 20th century, working across media, including painting, sculpture, film and printmaking.

A fascinating timeline tracing the artist’s life enhances the appreciation of this remarkable exhibition, and makes clear that Warhol was seldom anywhere without a camera. The more than 150 original photographs by Warhol capture unidentified figures and celebrities alike, and track his life during the 1970s and ’80s.

The exhibition is the creation of Martinez and CCMA Curator Justin Witte, who have partnered with two dozen communities to add their own Warhol component to cityscapes this summer. And Gindo’s Spice of Life in St. Charles has even concocted a Warhol hot sauce.

Children will love the Kids Pop Art Print Factory, a bright creative space created by author and illustrator Mike Venezia, himself a member of the Fox Valley Arts Hall of Fame. And grab a selfie with Warhol in the Studio 54 Experience, where mannequins named for the disco-era club’s famous guests from Cher to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis sport copies of their apparel replicated by a COD creative team.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: “Warhol”

WHERE: Cleve Carney Museum of Art and McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn

WHEN: Through Sept. 10

COST: $25 to $40

INFORMATION: Timed tickets at Warhol2023.org, 630-942-4000