Painter Hangs Own Paintings

Andy Warhol
Shadows, 1978–79
Acrylic on canvas, 102 paintings on canvas (all unframed)
193 × 132 × 2,9 cm each Dia Art Foundation Installation view: Dia:Beacon, Beacon, New York Photo: Bill Jacobson © 2016, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./VEGAP

New York Magazine 5 Feb 1979, Pags. 9-10

Painter Hangs Own Paintings
By Andy Warhol

On Tuesday I hung my painting(s) at the Heiner Friedrich gallery in Soho. Really it’s one painting with 83 parts. Each part is 52 inches by 76 inches and they are all sort of the same except for the colors. I called them “Shadows” because they are based on a photo of a shadow in my office. It’s a silk screen that I mop over with paint.

I started working on them a few years ago. But I get the most done on weekends because during the week people keep coming by to talk.

The painting(s) can't be bought. The Lone Start Foundation is presenting them and they own them.

Someone asked me if I thought they were art and I say no. You see, the opening party had disco. I guess that makes them disco décor.

This show will be like all the others. The reviews will be bad—my reviews always are. But the reviews of the party will be terrific.

I had the painting(s) hung at eye level. Any lower and people would kick them, especially at the party. The only problem with hanging the show was the gallery floor. One end of the gallery floor is one foot higher that the other.

But the kids helped me, and when we finished we all had lunch. I ate a pickle and drank some Evian and then some Perrier Jouet.

The gallery looked great. It’s a simple, clean space. My Mao show was bigger, but this is the biggest show I’ve had in New York City in a long time.

After we were finished, I took a walk with some friends. We stopped by at Ivan Karp’s gallery, O.K. Harris. He told me that there are a lot people now doing shadows in art. I didn’t know that.

Then we crossed the street and went in to Holly Solomon’s Gallery. I always like to see if the art across the street is better than mine. “