Pop-art made its way to the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, when the exhibition of works by the famous American artist Andy Warhol arrived in Baku, Azerbaijan. For this unique occasion, Milos Structural Systems was commissioned by the art shipping company HS Art Service Austria to design the supporting structure to house and support this one-of-a-kind event.
The Andy Warhol international pop-art exhibition was called "Life, Death and Beautiful" and was on display from 21 June to 9 September 2013 at the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Heydar Aliyev Center is committed to the development of culture and uses its space to introduce cultural items from across the world to Azerbaijan. Its goal is to help develop relationships between countries and peoples.
Displaying up to 100 works of Warhol’s art, the exhibition included photos of the artist himself, as well as portraits of renowned cinema, music, fashion stars, and other items. The opening ceremony of the first exhibition in Baku was attended by local artists, museum representatives and international guests.
Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was a famous American artist in the 20th century and was the figurehead for "pop-art", a visual art movement that came into full force in the 1960’s. He was a world famous, although sometimes controversial, artist that explored the links between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement. His art was made up of many types of media, such as hand drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, silk screening, sculpture, film and music. He was also one of the first to use Amiga computers to create computer-generated art. He was well-known for coining the expression "15 minutes of fame", which is still in widespread use today.
To house the unique exhibition that highlights the works of such an influential artist, Milos Structural Systems was asked by exhibition organiser HS Art Service Austria to design a structure inside the Center that would create a safe and stable framework to close in the exhibition space and support the valuable pieces of art. The resulting structure from Milos designers was 4.5 metres high x 38.6 metres wide x 23.7 metres deep and consisted of Milos 50mm x 2mm M390K QUATRO and DUO truss. Both tube systems come in standard and custom lengths, junctions and curves, and can be used for a wide variety of structures and support duties. Coming in natural silver or a wide variety of power coated finishes, they can match interior colour schemes or the colour scheme of a particular event.
Although "15 minutes of fame" applies to most of us, both Andy and Milos have proven that it’s not a limitation for everyone.