Fine & Dandy!

Portraits of Warhol in Marbella 

Whoever said the Costa del Sol is a cultural backwater should step inside the Hotel Villa Padierna later this week, and prepare to be amazed...
Teaming up with bespoke Marbella art gallery, Dideh Art, the opulent hotel, which is managed by The Ritz-Carlton group, is premiering a series of  photographs of the cult artist by the Hilton Brothers.

 “ Andy Dandy”, as the photographic collection of Andy Warhol portraits by The Hilton Brothers is known, will be showcased at the hotel from July 18 - 24, 2008 at Hotel Villa Padierna and introduced during a high profile, VIP event on July 17 at the hotel’s new Roman Amphitheater.
A portfolio of 20 digital pigment prints. A collaboration between Christopher Makos and Paul Solberg, who have taken on the identity of the Hilton Brothers for this endeavour, “Andy Dandy” combines the Warhol portraits by Makos with Solberg’s flower portraiture for an eerie yet fresh look at Andy Warhol, one of the 20th century's great icons of modern art. The flowers feminize the figure of Warhol in his wigs, and their bold colour contrasts with the black and white imagery. The iconic pop artist Andy Warhol (1928 – 1987) can be now seen in a new context: “We question what is real, what is past and what our interpretation means to us. Andy Dandy is a fabulous homage to a pop master”, say the Hilton Brothers.

An Original Take
The Hilton Brothers see themselves as the response to American popular culture; they are the good, the bad and the ugly: “What we love and what we loathe. It is our response to the mind numbing vacancy of current pop culture that people seem to buy and accept happily. Good trash is a good thing of course, but today, it is just dull. Cliché is chic. The illegitimate is now legitimate. It’s a time when originality is often ignored, particularly in the mass media”.
 
“ Andy Dandy” marks the first summer event at the luxury Hotel Villa Padierna´s Roman Amphitheater. Set amidst the lush greens of the Los Flamingos Golf Course, the hotel’s Amphitheater provides a privileged venue for the exhibition launch event, which will be followed by a flurry of flamenco.   The “Andy Dandy” photo exhibition is open to visitors from July 18 to July 24,   from 10 am -10 pm with no admission fee.