Kim Gordon: Lo-Fi Glamour, the artist’s first North American museum solo-exhibition, features painting, sculpture, a new series of figure drawings, and a commissioned score for Andy Warhol’s 1963–64 silent film Kiss.
Celebrated for her work as a founding member of the experimental post-punk band Sonic Youth, Kim Gordon is a multi-disciplinary artist and thinker who has worked in fashion, publishing, film, and music. In the 1980s, it was through art that she found music, coming to Sonic Youth sideways from an early interest in art, aesthetics, and performance. Gordon never trained as a musician. Instead, she went to art school at the Otis College of Art and Design. In her early years, Gordon immersed herself in artistic circles by forming close relationships with Mike Kelley in Los Angeles and Dan Graham, and young artists from the burgeoning art movement, the Pictures Generation in New York. In 1980, just a year after moving to New York, Gordon staged her first exhibition, Design Office, and a year later co-curated an exhibition of musicians for Noise Fest both at the artist led, White Columns. In the early 2000s, she returned to her artistic pursuits with new gusto, developing a series of canvases she refers to as Noise Name paintings, which are inspired by her musical roots. Her sculpture of silver glitter takes inspiration from the lo-fi aesthetic of Warhol’s Silver Factory and her paintings echo the raw, graffiti-aesthetic of noise bands of the 1980s. The exhibition will also feature figure drawings and erotic sculptures, paring intimate works that complement the elegance and intimacy of Warhol’s Kiss.
Gordon cites Warhol as one of her artistic influences, particularly the lo-fi aesthetic of Warhol’s studio, as well as his involvement with the Velvet Underground, and his multi-disciplinary practice in fashion, painting, music, publishing, and performance. The exhibition and commissioned score, Sound for Andy Warhol’s Kiss honors Gordon’s early interests in Warhol while also spotlighting the development of her artistic voice.
Kim Gordon: Lo-Fi Glamour is curated by Jessica Beck, Milton Fine curator of art and Ben Harrison, curator of performing arts & special projects at The Warhol. A limited-edition vinyl record of Gordon’s commissioned score, performed with fellow musicians Bill Nace, Steve Gunn, and John Truscinski, and a booklet of essays that contextualize her artistic practice accompany the exhibition.
Kim Gordon: Lo-Fi Glamour is generously supported by Alexa and Adam Wolman.