Sponsored: Cadillac is bringing works from, and inspired by, the Don of Pop Art exclusively to Dubai…

Andy Warhol was one of the founders of pop art. His creations – the most famous of which include the Campbell’s soup can print and the diptych of Marilyn Monroe – explored the cross-sections between art, celebrity culture and advertising.

The good news for UAE-based art fans is that we now have a rare opportunity to see a collection of Warhol’s works right here: the exhibition Letters to Andy Warhol opens in Dubai Design District on Friday December 8, running until Saturday December 16. Admission is entirely free, and the exhibition will be open from 12pm to 9pm (here’s a Google Maps link with exact directions to the exhibition).

The exhibition has been brought to Dubai by Cadillac – a brand that’s intimately connected to Warhol, considering their cars were synonymous with the American culture that the artist was so fascinated by.

Here’s a video that explains a bit more about the exhibit, and more about Warhol himself:

Letters to Andy Warhol uncovers five rarely seen letters from the archives of the Andy Warhol museum written by the likes of Yves Saint Laurent, Mick Jagger and the Museum of Modern Art.

Each letter has then inspired contemporary creators to explore their relationship with Warhol’s work and create a unique piece of art that reflects it.

These commissioned pieces are by Brian Atwood, Chiara Clemente, Derek Blasberg, David LaChapelle, Francesco Clemente, J.J. Martin, Nick Rhodes, Sean Lennon, Sienna Miller and Zac Posen.

Clemente’s piece is a video interviewing today’s celebrities about persistence, Lennon’s is a virtual reality drawing station, Blasberg’s is an interactive photo booth and Atwood’s is a play on the rejection letter Warhol received from MoMA when he tried to submit his now-famous shoe drawing to them.

There is also a selection of Warhol’s works on cars – an icon of ’60s Americana and an area of Warhol’s art that remains relatively unexamined. 

We’ll see you there.

– Visit Cadillac Arabia website for more info on the exhibition.