HENZEL STUDIO HERITAGE: ANDY WARHOL

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HENZEL STUDIO HERITAGE: ANDY WARHOL

HENZEL STUDIO is honored to present ANDY WARHOL: Oxidation Paintings (2022) and ANDY WARHOL: Marilyn Maquette / Marilyn Monroe (2015).

“The foundation is delighted to expand our collaboration with Henzel Studio to celebrate Warhol’s idiosyncratic exploration of abstraction and his continued influence on contemporary culture,” said Michael Dayton Hermann of The Andy Warhol Foundation. “We are proud to work with creatives like Calle Henzel and Joakim Andreasson to execute exquisite interpretations of Warhol’s work as handmade art rugs. Revenue generated from the sale of the rugs contributes generously to the vital work of the charitable non-profit established by Andy Warhol.”

Oxidation Paintings

Henzel Studio is honored to further its collaboration with The Andy Warhol Foundation of Visual Arts on a second collection of handmade art rugs based on one of Warhol’s most controversial yet abstract series of works, his Oxidation Paintings.

Curated by Joakim Andreasson, the collection is part of Henzel Studio Heritage, an ongoing program of art rugs established with foundations and estates of the most prominent artists of the 20th century. For the second installment of Henzel Studio Heritage: Andy Warhol, Andreasson identified Warhol’s Oxidation Paintings from 1978 as a captivating series to examine after experiencing one of the pieces at Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again, exhibition at The Whitney Museum For American Art in New York, 2019. Hours later, at a pre-scheduled meeting with The Andy Warhol Foundation For The Visual Arts, minds were aligned to explore the paintings’ adaptability into the media of rugs further. After two years of painstaking development and production, the result is a remarkably seamless adaptation, where similar oxidation outcomes and comparable textures have been achieved.

When making his Oxidation paintings, Warhol laid his canvases down on the floor, coated them with copper paint, and then directed his assistants or visitors to his studio to urinate on them while the paint was still wet. The acid from the urine oxidized the metal in the copper paint, creating an abstract shimmering effect. Insisting on the importance of artistic skill when creating the paintings, Warhol explained: “If I asked someone to do an Oxidation painting, and they just wouldn’t think about it, it would just be a mess. Then I did it myself – and it’s just too much work – and you try to figure out a good design.”

Warhol’s Oxidation paintings resulted in an abstract exploration of differently shaped stains, intricate color-shifts and shimmering surfaces. Far removed from his previous work, which to date had been largely derived from photography and transferred to canvas via silk-screening, this was the first time he committed to a certain kind of painterly abstraction reminiscent of Abstract Expressionism. The process in which these paintings were made, by urinating on the canvas, and the developing process through oxidation, suggest a kind of alchemy in which bodily fluids are transformed into images of devastating beauty. These limited edition rugs are made of the finest silk and wool available, and solely utilize hand-made techniques that date back centuries. Calle Henzel, founder and creative director of Henzel Studio, experimented extensively with various techniques that in practice might seem contradictory and destructive – but one that allows for a closer dialogue with the original works. The abstractions, freeform shapes and variable pile heights of these rugs are coincidentally closely tied with Calle Henzel’s signature designs, many of which are informed by free-form shapes, interplay between volume and dimensions, effects of erosion and geological formations – characteristics that have carved a trademark place for Henzel Studio in art and interior design.

Aesthetics aside, Andreasson found it intriguing to explore adapting works that were created on the same plane field as the one rug traditionally inhabit – the floor. With the Oxidation Paintings being executed through elements of chance, random and performance comparable to the making of Yves Klein’s paintings, it is compelling to see how these engaging works in turn are given an alternate life as elements of physical and domestic engagement.

Images: ANDY WARHOL, Self-portrait, 1979

ANDY WARHOL, Oxidation Painting, 1978, Oxidation Painting (02), 2021, Design by Calle Henzel, Edition of 10, Hand knotted, Wool & Silk, High / Low Cut, 240 x 320 cm (94.5 x 126 ins), Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity

ANDY WARHOL, Oxidation Painting, 1978, Oxidation Painting (01), 2021, Design by Calle Henzel, Edition of 10, Hand knotted, Wool & Silk, High / Low Cut, 240 x 320 cm (94.5 x 126 ins), Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity

© / ® / ™ The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

Installation view of Andy Warhol - From A to B and Back Again (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 12, 2018-March 31, 2019). From left to right, top to bottom: Skull, 1976; Skull, 1976; Skull, 1976; Skull, 1976; Oxidation Painting, 1978. Photograph by Ron Amstutz. New York, Whitney Museum of American Art. © 2021. Digital image Whitney Museum of American Art / Licensed by Scala

© / ® / ™ The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

Marilyn Maquette / Marilyn Monroe

HENZEL STUDIO's collaboration with The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts is a groundbreaking collection of handmade art rugs that brings to light one of Warhol’s most obscure works, while paying homage to his most iconic and popular subject; Marilyn Monroe. Designed by Calle Henzel and curated by Joakim Andreasson, the collection marks the second installment of Henzel Studio Heritage, developed with foundations and estates of the most prominent artists of the 20th century. For ‘Henzel Studio Heritage: Andy Warhol’, Andreasson identified and applied as basis for the collection a maquette Warhol created for an unrealized artists book. To expand on the maquette, the original Monroe portraits have been further deconstructed and appropriated by Calle Henzel. Henzel applied his signature design characteristic; freeform organic shapes, strategically placed holes, uneven punk-like fringes and elaborate surface treatments. The collection was launched at The Webster, Miami, in conjunction with Art Basel Miami Beach.

The handmade model consists of thirty-eight octagonal pages, each a die-cut detail from Warhol’s print edition set of Marilyn Monroe dated 1967 that includes ten variations of the iconic star. The maquette was discovered in Warhol’s Time Capsule 55 in 1994, one of 610 cardboard boxes he filled and dated from 1974 until his death in 1987. Referred to then as “Andy’s stuff”, they are filled with objects he accumulated from his daily life: gifts, collectibles, photographs, invitations, letters,magazines, newspapers, junk mail, business records and artwork. Today, Warhol’s Time Capsules are known to be a diary of his everyday personal and professional life including Warhol’s artistic practice.

Images: ANDY WARHOL Box for the Marilyn Monroe Portfolio (1967). ANDY WARHOL Marilyn Monroe, Book Maquette (1968)

© / ® / ™ The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

To expand on the maquette, the original Monroe portraits have been further deconstructed and appropriated by Calle Henzel. Henzel applied his signature design characteristic; freeform organic shapes, strategically placed holes, uneven punk-like fringes and elaborate surface treatments.

To fully encapsulate this obscure maquette, and bring light to these practically unseen works by the artist, Henzel Studio seamlessly translated its 38 pages into remarkable hand knotted silk rugs and pillows. The resulting designs and abstractions provide an unforeseen and detailed view of Warhol’s portrait of Monroe, where each rug serves as magnified close-ups through an octagon shaped lens. To expand on the maquette, the original Monroe portraits have been further deconstructed and appropriated by Calle Henzel. Henzel applied his signature design characteristic; freeform organic shapes, strategically placed holes, uneven punk-like fringes and elaborate surface treatments. As a final “kiss”, the collection is topped of with a two-piece design of Monroe’s lips appropriated from a lithograph by Warhol printed as part of a publication called 1¢ Life in 1964.

Images: ANDY WARHOL Marilyn, 1967, Tarfala Permafrost Night Edit, 2015 (in-situ) Design by Calle Henzel. ANDY WARHOL Marilyn, 1967, Byske Nordic Raw 031C, 2015 (in-situ) Design by Calle Henzel. ANDY WARHOL Marilyn, 1967, Akkajaur Night, 2015 (in-situ) Design by Calle Henzel

© / ® / ™ The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.