I Remember Heaven: Jim Hodges and Andy Warhol

Jim Hodges, Movements (Stage I), 2005, Mirror on canvas, 96 x 66 inches. Collection of Danielle and David Ganek.

On the surface it may seem that Warhol and Hodges are polar opposites. Warhol is popularly portrayed as the ultimate cynic who “played” the art world for fame and fortune. By contrast, Hodges’s work can seem almost too likeable, openly tender and emotionally charged. I Remember Heaven : Jim Hodges and Andy Warhol reconsiders these characterizations of both artists through a series of carefully choreographed installations that juxtapose their works.

I Remember Heaven aims to evoke the side of Warhol that loved beauty and found it everywhere, in the bodies of beautiful boys and the silvery surfaces of the Factory’s space-age décor ; who made art that embodied empathy and emotion ; and who exposed himself in the self-portraits he made throughout his life. At the same time, the show seeks to amplify interpretations of Jim Hodges’s work beyond that of personal expressions of longing and loss, and explore his embrace of cheap means of adornment as well as the sexy, visceral quality of his work.

This exhibition creates a dialogue between the two artists, showing many shared motifs and materials—flowers, camouflage patterns, silvery surfaces, references to death. However, these resemblances are only part of the picture. On a deeper level this cross-generational study looks at the artists’ works within a continuum of art production that finds history in everyday artifacts and uses aesthetic representation as a means to understand visibility/invisibility, sexuality, selfhood, love, and death. I Remember Heaven aims to create a context in which Warhol’s work may be read retrospectively through the work of Hodges, and Hodges’s through the work of Warhol.

I Remember Heaven : Jim Hodges and Andy Warhol is organized by the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis and curated by Susan Cahan, guest curator.

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Accompanying the exhibition will be a fully-illustrated catalog. Essays by Susan Cahan and José Esteban Munoz will be included. It will be distributed internationally by D.A.P., New York.

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The Jim Hodges special edition wallpaper featured in the exhibition is available for purchase from the Contemporary. Based on Hodges’ delicate, lyrical drawing From This Way Through (1999), the wallpaper fills the wall with a repeating pattern of hand-drawn plants and flowers sensuously rendered in charcoal and embellished with metallic gold stars. This wallpaper is available for purchase by contacting Lisa Grove at 314-535-4660 or at lisa.grove@contemporarystl.org.

2 Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis 2

A leading center for contemporary art, the Contemporary is a non-collecting institution located in the heart of St. Louis’s cultural district. Founded in 1980, the museum presents an ongoing schedule of exhibitions of new and innovative work and maintains an active program of community partnerships, educational offerings, and visitor activities. The museum is located at 3750 Washington Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63108. For more information, call 314.535.4660 or visit http://www.contemporarystl.org .