Entertainment · Books & Arts · 1 hr ago
Raed Yassin Reimagines Andy Warhol’s 1977 Kuwait Visit
Andy Warhol spent a week in Kuwait in 1977, attending social events and holding a solo exhibition at a gallery.
The visit came as Warhol faced pressure to find new buyers for his art, while Kuwait’s oil boom was bringing new wealth and greater exposure to Western culture.
Nearly 50 years later, Lebanese artist Raed Yassin has made mixed-media works imagining scenes from Warhol’s trip.
Yassin’s “Warhol of Arabia” is shown at the Venice Biennale, in the main exhibition “In Minor Keys.”
The works combine photographs and Pop-inspired changes, placing Warhol among imagined gatherings and adding regional imagery to familiar pictures of him.
The exhibition imagines what Gulf society was like during a period that Yassin says is often understood mainly through oil and industry.
Raed Yassin’s “Warhol of Arabia” reimagines Andy Warhol’s 1977 visit to Kuwait through photographic mixed-media works.
The series is part of the 61st Venice Biennale’s main exhibition, “In Minor Keys.”
Warhol visited Kuwait for a week in January 1977 at the invitation of the country’s national arts council.
During the visit, he attended tea parties and dinners and held a solo exhibition at Salat Al Funoon gallery.
Yassin said the work imagines what was happening in Gulf society beyond the oil industry.
- Who
- Contemporary artist Raed Yassin created the works, reimagining Andy Warhol’s visit.
- What
- Warhol of Arabia” depicts imagined scenes from Warhol’s 1977 trip to Kuwait.
- When
- Warhol visited in January 1977. Yassin’s works are dated 2016–2018.
- Where
- Kuwait, and the 61st Venice Biennale in Venice, Italy.
- Why
- Yassin said he wanted to imagine what was happening in Gulf society beyond the oil industry.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Warhol spent a week in Kuwait, attending tea parties and dinners and holding a solo exhibition at Salat Al Funoon gallery.
Yassin made the works in “Warhol of Arabia.
Yassin’s works were included in the main exhibition, “In Minor Keys.
- Artist
- Raed Yassin
- Series
- Warhol of Arabia
- Warhol’s visit
- January 1977
- Gallery
- Salat Al Funoon, Kuwait
- Biennale
- 61st Venice Biennale, main exhibition “In Minor Keys
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What people are saying
The Gulf region in the 70s was kind of a black hole. No one knew what was going on, especially culturally,
This is my imagination of it, which creates a different world entirely.