Warhol's 15 Minutes

Rohrer Fine Art in Laguna Beach presents 00:15 Fame, an exhibition of drawings and silkscreen prints by Andy Warhol.

The notion that everyone has their “15 minutes of fame,” could only have emerged in the 1960s, when the birth of technology made instant communication accessible, providing an intimate connection to the sensationalism of news. Coined by pop artist Andy Warhol, the phrase prophetically captures the bittersweet era of extremes when the pendulum of events swung rapidly, bringing notoriety one moment and obscurity the next.

Rohrer Fine Art in Laguna Beach presents 00:15 Fame, an exhibition of drawings and silkscreen prints by Warhol and still photographs by noted celebrity photographer and filmmaker, Lawrence Schiller. The art captures 10 years that began with the promise of peace and good will and ended in chaos, war and social revolution. From the feminist and sexual revolutions, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the assassinations of Robert Kennedy, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., to man landing on the moon and a dog flying in outer space, the ’60s was a time of extremes.

Against this sensational backdrop of art and politics, Warhol, who was as much a celebrity as those he portrayed, used color, composition and graphic boldness to carve out his fame along with a flamboyant lifestyle that ranged from Bohemian to

Lawrence Schiller, Marilyn 12, No. 29, 1962, silver gelatin print

aristocratic. In his vivid colored multiples, films, paintings, and drawings, he captured the raw mythology and commercialization of the famous in a popular genre. As he openly revered adulation, Warhol’s subjects were always instantaneously recognizable figures, such as Mao Tse Tung, Elizabeth Taylor or Jackie Kennedy. While their glamour had mass appeal, Warhol also conveyed their vulnerability. Ironically, Warhol’s prophecy of everyone being famous for 15 minutes now has reached fruition in the preponderance of reality TV and the Internet.



Marilyn Monroe, portrayed by Warhol and captured also by Schiller before her death, is the epitome of the movie star, both glamorous and tragic. Monroe redefined Hollywood celebrity and femininity. Schiller’s classic images captured her childlike, yet womanly sexpot image, particularly his image of Monroe, half-hidden within a sparkling pool, except for one curvaceous leg draped on the pool’s edge, her sensuous arm and her angelic face grinning slyly at us. Also on display are limited edition platinum prints of Schiller’s images of glamorous 1960s politicians and celebrities: Joe DiMaggio, Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Paul Newman, and Barbara Streisand, to name only a handful.

Rohrer Fine Art presents and promotes a global spectrum of art and design in a unique format that highlights rare and breathtaking art of the last 2,000 years.

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