Even before his first visit in 1956, Andy Warhol had been largely well-received by people in Japan. Pieces like “Campbell’s Soup I” are just as easily recognized here as anywhere along with other pieces of the artist’s highly prolific and vast range of work. But with this massive collection stored far away in The Andy Warhol Museum in America it’s been hard for his Japanese fans to experience it all until now.

The museum is taking its collection on a tour of Asia including a three-month stay at the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo. The exhibit titled Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal boasts nearly 700 pieces of art and film as well as some other exhibits designed to take visitors deep into his world as it existed decades ago.

Of course many of Warhol’s signature works from the “Campbell’s Soup”, “Flowers” and “Death and Disaster” series are there along with his famous celebrity portraits such as Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Works he did with Jean-Michel Basquiat are also on display.

Twenty-five pieces of Warhol’s film work will also be on display including his eight-hour epic “Empire” which is a stationary camera pointed at the landmark for the entire run-time. SPOILER ALERT: The sun comes up at the end.

http://youtu.be/VMCeDBn1Zu0

This is still only a part of everything going on at the Mori Art Museum. Inside you’ll find a recreation of Warhol’s studio, “The Factory“ and some of his Japanese time capsules containing items he collection while visiting will be opened during symposiums. Meanwhile outside of the venue you can grab a bite from the Andy Warhol Café serving parfaits with yellow sunglasses and burgers with huge dollar signs charred into the bun.

You may also stumble across the BMW M1 he painted in 1975.

There’s also a gift shop featuring heaps of Andy Warhol merchandise, because like the man said, “good business is the best art.” And while we’re on the topic of Warhol quotes, the name of the exhibit is clearly in reference to his famous line: “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”

Love him or loathe him, I think even Warhol himself would have been surprised at how incredibly well he predicted this reality-TV and YouTube-filled culture many of us now live in.

Information
Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal
1 February – 6 May
Mori Art Museum
53F Roppongi Hills Mori Tower
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
10:00am – 10:00pm seven days a week
Website

Source: Twitter – moriartmuseum, entabe
Video: YouTube – Hidden Below