Andy Warhol leads the cast at HOTA Gallery blockbuster

It’s the most exciting art exhibition this year and the fact that it’s happening at HOTA Gallery on the Gold Coast may shock some people, writes Phil Brown.

A stunning collection of work by pop art legend Andy Warhol opens Saturday at HOTA Gallery on the Gold Coast is the most exciting exhibition in Australia. Surprised that it’s happening in Surfers Paradise?

HOTA Gallery director Tracy Cooper-Lavery says Pop Masters: Art From The Mugrabi Collection New York reckons that Andy Warhol himself would have loved the idea.

“I think Warhol would have liked Surfers Paradise,” she says. “It would have suited his style.”

The exhibition features a stunning array of 24 works by the pop art icon and features some famous faces including Mao Tse Tung, Sylvester Stallone, Dolly Parton and Warhol himself. The show is drawn entirely from the famed collection of one of the world’s most prominent art collectors, New York based Syrian Israeli billionaire Jose Mugrabi, who owns in excess of 800 works by Warhol, the exhibition is the first international blockbuster for the new HOTA Gallery.

HOTA Gallery director Tracy Cooper-Lavery and co-curator Bradley Vincent with Andy Warhol work from the exhibition. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

“And it won’t be seen anywhere else in Australia or the world for that matter,” Cooper-Lavery says. “The exhibition celebrates the history of Pop Art, while examining its influence on art and artists today. We wanted to explore the intersections in the lives, ideas and practices of this significant group of artists. Many of them knew each other, collaborated or have been influenced by each other, and we have acknowledged this in the design of the exhibition, which sees these incredible artworks in dialogue with one another.”

New York, New York by Jean-Michel Basquiat 1981

Pop Masters: Art from the Mugrabi Collection, New York, presents more than 50 works never-before-seen in Australia by 15 legendary and renowned artists including Warhol and his friend Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Tom Wesselmann, Katherine Bernhardt, Kwesi Botchway, George Condo, Damien Hirst, KAWS, Jeff Koons, Joel Mesler, Richard Prince, Tom Sachs, Julian Schnabel and Mickalene Thomas.

How did the Gold Coast score the exhibition? Put that down to the enterprising Ms Cooper-Lavery who had the audacity to ask.
“I contacted them out of the blue and they probably wondered - who the hell is this person ringing us from a place we have never heard of?

“Luckily I did get to go to New York before the pandemic. That personal contact is important.”

Contemporary Pop Art in Pool Party 2022 by Joel Mesler

And while Covid delayed the show now that it’s about to open Cooper-Lavery cannot wipe the smile off her face.

“I was walking through the exhibition with my co-curator Bradley Vincent and I said to him - it feels like every work is a star,” she says. “And he replied - it’s all killer, no filler. I love that.”

The Andy Warhol works will introduce visitors to the exhibition, including iconic portraits such as Sixteen Jackies (1964), Mao (1973), Dolly Parton (1985), together with Flowers (1964-65) and his deeply personal painting, Cross (1982). Recognising the connections between Pop Art and Street Art, works from Keith Haring include one of his earliest works from 1979 alongside a significant large-scale work featuring his iconic dancing dogs Untitled (1981). With an intense and prolific output created in less than a decade, Jean-Michel Basquiat is considered one of the most important artists of the late 20th century and is represented by eight works including the iconic painting New York, New York (1981) and a collaboration between Warhol and Basquiat from 1984-85.

A collaboration by Andy Warhol (L) and Jean-Michel Basquiat is included in the HOTA Gallery show

Contemporary highlights on display include works by KAWS including the 2.8-metre-tall sculpture WHAT PARTY (2018); Mickalene Thomas’ I‘ve Got it Bad and that Ain’t Good from the She Works Hard For the Money Pin-Up series (2006); Katherine Bernhardt’s major canvas, Giant Jungle Office (2017) and the sensational installation by Damien Hirst When They Were Down They Were Down (2007) featuring more than 4500 resin pharmaceutical pills in a mirrored cabinet.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate says “it’s showtime at HOTA with the precinct’s first international exhibition lighting up our magnificent gallery”.

“Pop Masters is symbolic of HOTA‘s ambitious vision,” he says.

Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe says the exhibition is “a great cultural addition to the Gold Coast visitor economy and our great Queensland lifestyle”.

“As an exclusive, world premiere this is a major destination event for the Gold Coast and Queensland,” Minister Hinchliffe says. “This exhibition celebrates the Gold Coast’s cultural credentials while investing more than 17,000 visitor nights and $2.8 million in the local

tourism economy.”

Pop Masters: Art from the Mugrabi Collection, New York

18 February - 4 June 2023

HOTA Gallery, 135 Bundall Rd, Surfers Paradise Gold Coast

Open 10am-4pm daily

Tickets from $25

hota.com.au/popmasters