Politics & Friendship in Warhol & Basquiat’s Collaboration - Aug. 10

The McAninch Arts Center (MAC) at 425 W. Fawell Blvd., on the College of DuPage campus hosts a lecture by Jessica Beck, director at Gagosian Gallery, Bevery Hills and former Milton Fine curator of The Andy Warhol Museum, 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 10. Titled “Politics and Friendship in Warhol and Basquiat’s Collaborations,” the talk is part of a series of on-site programming aimed at enriching the WAROL exhibit experience, including lectures by internationally renowned authors and Warhol experts, workshops, concerts and more taking place throughout the exhibition’s run.

Beck is a curator, Warhol scholar, art historian, writer and lecturer. Formerly chief curator of the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, she organized numerous exhibitions of Warhol’s work there, including “Andy Warhol: My Perfect Body” (2016–2017) and “Marisol and Warhol Take New York” (2021–2022). Beck has published widely on Warhol, including for the catalogue published to accompany the exhibition “Basquiat × Warhol: Painting Four Hands” at Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (2023) and was a featured expert in the Netflix documentary series, “The Andy Warhol Diaries” (2022).

Beck will explore the profound friendship and creative exchange that defined their collaborative efforts of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat during the 1980s and will share an excerpt from her essay on the two artists. While Warhol and Basquiat are often analyzed in terms of their differences, Beck will illustrate the numerous shared elements between the two artists, including their friendship, mutual interest in anatomy and language, and their engagement with the political climate of the 1980s. Through a meticulous examination of their paintings and sculptures, Beck will demonstrate how Basquiat exerted a significant influence, revitalizing Warhol's later career.

Tickets to Beck’s lecture, “Politics and Friendship in Warhol and Basquiat’s Collaborations,” are $10, but free to anyone who has purchased a ticket to the WARHOL exhibition. Other August events include a lecture by COD Humanities Faculty Member Julia diLiberti, “Soup Can Can’t” (Aug. 17); “Who was Valerie Solanas, the woman who shot Andy Warhol” featuring COD Film Chair Professor Brian Brems and Creative Writing Certificate Chair Trina Sotirakopulos (Aug. 24); and Thomas Kiedrowski – “Andy Warhol’s New York City” (Aug. 31). For the full schedule, tickets or more information, visit WARHOL2023.org or call the MAC Box Office at 630.942.4000. Summer hours for the Box Office are 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.