The Andy Warhol Museum mounts Asia’s first Warhol retrospective, starting at Singapore’s

The Andy Warhol Museum mounts Asia’s first Warhol retrospective, starting at Singapore’s ArtScience Museum and stopping in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo over the next two years.

It hopes to show the world just how much of influence Asia was on Andy and Andy was on Asia.

Warhol, who died at 58 in 1987, is a major influence on contemporary Asian artists such as Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei and “appropriation artist” Yasumasa Morimura, but according to Warhol Museum director Eric Shiner, the exhibition highlights Asia’s influence on Warhol as well. In 1956, he took a round-the-world trip, his first foray outside the U.S., making stops in Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand. He noted the use of gold in temples and statues of Buddha, which led to his use of gold leaf in his drawings, Mr. Shiner says. Later, Warhol became fascinated by the chrysanthemum plant and made a series of prints inspired by the flower.

The exhibition traces the evolution of Warhol’s career, starting with his early output as a commercial illustrator working in New York in the 1950s all the way to his “Last Supper” series, the last major work he completed before his death.

“Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal” features more than 250 of Warhol’s paintings, drawings, film and installation, including several of his most iconic. His portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Jacqueline Onassis and himself will be on display, as will the celebrated Campbell’s soup can. All but two of the works come from the Warhol Museum’s collection.

Asian collectors are increasingly interested in Warhol’s output. In 2010, an unnamed Asian collector paid more than $850,000 for a Mao portrait at an auction in Hong Kong. Hong Kong collector Joseph Lau spent $17.4 million at a 2006 New York auction for a single Mao portrait.

The exhibition runs till August 12, 2012 in Singapore and will head to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and finally to Tokyo in 2014.

via wsj.com and ap