ST. PETERSBURG, FL — The second annual Andy Warhol Birthday Pop Art Party will be held Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. at The Floridian in St. Pete to celebrate the legendary pop artist.
This is a new date for the art exhibition, which was postponed due to Hurricane Debby, which hit Florida earlier this month.
Dozens of Warhol-inspired pieces will be on display throughout the afternoon, along with specialty cocktails served in Campbell’s soup cans, live painting, and a lineup of impersonators portraying icons from the era – Warhol, Marilyn Monroe, and Elvis Presley.
“I wanted to organize community-based events that also promote our culture in St. Pete and local art in general,” Cicillini told Patch. “I thought, wow, it would be really great if we could get a bunch of artists together, make music and really make a day of it.”
They put together this opening show in about a month.
“After seeing the initial turnout, we thought we’d give it another try,” she said.
Heath describes the event as “visual entertainment” rather than an art exhibition and believes it is a fun way to give more people in the community access to the arts.
“We used Andy Warhol as the focal point (of the event) because he’s kind of the face of the pop movement. He’s probably the only pop artist that everyone knows,” he told Patch. “We wanted to capture as many people as possible. And since his birthday is around that time (August 6), it’s a good time to do something like this.”
Artist Lucky Leroy, a longtime Warhol impersonator, will not only have a piece in Sunday’s show, he will also reprise his role as the artist and even film his own versions of Warhol’s test shots.
Warhol filmed his infamous screen tests—hundreds of portraits of famous and not-so-famous people. He captured them on silent, 100-foot-long black-and-white film between 1963 and 1966, and each screen test lasted about three minutes, according to the Andy Warhol Museum.
Lucky Leroy has had a long association with Warhol. Both are originally from Pittsburgh and lived in New York City.
“He’s one of my favorite artists. I’ve always felt a connection to him and he’s an obsession,” Lucky Leroy told Patch.
