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‘Chasing Andy Warhol’ commemorates the late artist's life in New York City

Chasing Andy Warhol, an immersive walk tour based on the life of the late American artist, is currently taking place in New York's East Village.

by STIRworldPublished on : Apr 29, 2022

We could make it a 10-pointer on why Andy Warhol is the biggest icon of the 20th century, but there’s a walking tour that is engaging the people in New York with Andy Warhol’s life. A single person who legitimately stirred the art scene in America during his lifetime and continues to do so in 2022 as well, Andy Warhol, the leading American artist, film director, and producer. Warhol changed the meaning of art and controversially blurred the distinctions between fine art and popular aesthetics. Based on Warhol’s life, an immersive walking tour production - Chasing Andy Warhol - opens at Astor Place in the East Village. It follows on the heels of Bated Breath Theatre Company’s award-winning production Voyeur: The Windows of Toulouse-Lautrec, the longest-running pandemic friendly show in New York City.

Brandon P Raines, an actor from Chasing Andy Warhol | STIRworld
Brandon P Raines, an actor from Chasing Andy Warhol Image: Jenny Anderson; Courtesy of Bated Breath Theatre Company

The theatrical walking tour production will employ Bated Breath’s unique multimedia approach as scenes inspired by Warhol’s enigmatic life unfold on the streets, behind windows of area businesses, and inside secret locations along the route. Despite Warhol’s celebrity and fame, he was also an obscure, mystifying persona who preferred to remain elusive. The show will use a distinct blend of immersive theatre, dance, film, art, and puppetry to peek into the life of the iconic artist. Chasing Andy Warhol goes beyond the hype and into the deepest feelings of a profoundly complex person - whose legacy continues to bombard our senses at every turn.

A suitcase that highlights Basquiat’s famous crown | Chasing Andy Warhol | STIRworld
A suitcase that highlights Basquiat’s famous crown Image: Travis Emery Hackett; Courtesy of Bated Breath Theatre Company

The executive artistic director, Marie Lieberman stated that they are thrilled to be back again, applying what they learned while doing this boundary-breaking artform to explore the life of boundary-breaking artist Andy Warhol.

01 min watch A video from Chasing Andy Warhol | STIRworld
A video from Chasing Andy Warhol Video: Courtesy of Bated Breath Theatre Company
Immersive theatrical walking tour’s snippet | STIRworld
The theatrical walking tour’s snippet Image: Travis Emery Hackett; Courtesy of Bated Breath Theatre Company

Warhol’s work marked the end of modern art and the beginning of the postmodern period by shifting from non-objective self-expressive abstraction to popular subjects, objects, and themes that everyone could relate to and recognise. He had an unrivalled ability to pinpoint what defined our culture and preserve it for posterity through the use of cutting-edge techniques and technology. In essence, his pop art is a brilliantly perceptive visual history of 1960s New York and how it will be remembered in the future.

Actors wearing the iconic Andy Warhol wig | Chasing Andy Warhol | STIRworld
Actors wearing the iconic Andy Warhol wig Image: Travis Emery Hackett; Courtesy of Bated Breath Theatre Company
Chasing Andy Warhol’s cast - Brandon P Raines and Katherine Winter | STIRworld
Chasing Andy Warhol’s cast - Brandon P Raines and Katherine Winter Image: Jenny Anderson; Courtesy of Bated Breath Theatre Company

Warhol had an uncanny knack for predicting that "in the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." And surprisingly, it holds true in today’s technology-driven world. Everyone’s a click away from fame, thanks to social media, but given Warhol’s success even after his demise, we can certainly conclude that there will always be one Andy Warhol.

Chasing Andy Warhol’s cast: Jmonet Hill, Brandon P Raines, Fé Torres, Jake Malavsky, Annika Rudolph, Kyle Starling| STIRworld
Chasing Andy Warhol’s cast: Jmonet Hill, Brandon P Raines, Fé Torres, Jake Malavsky, Annika Rudolph, Kyle Starling Image: Jenny Anderson; Courtesy of Bated Breath Theatre Company
Text by Vatsala Sethi, Assistant Editorial Coordinator (Arts))

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