The Asheville Art Museum will show some of Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests, a series of silent films the artist made of his well-known bohemian inner circle during the mid-‘60s. The screening starts Friday, Sept. 6, at 5 p.m., but will be shown on a loop throughout the weekend. For more specific times, check the AAM schedule.
The movie, called 13 Most Beautiful … Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests, includes pop music group Dean and Britta performing self-written songs and covers over 13 of Warhol’s most famous Screen Tests.
From the AAM website:
In the 1960s, artist Andy Warhol filmed a series of what he called Screen Tests, each silent film lasting for approximately two minutes. Warhol slowed the finished films to a length of about four minutes each, creating intimate portraits of friends, Factory regulars and well-known artists. This particular film includes original music written for the Screen Tests and includes portraits of musician Lou Reed, actor Dennis Hopper, model and musician Nico and others.
From the website Warholstars.org:
Although most of the film portraits were done at the Factory, some were filmed (as with the footage mentioned above by Kelly Edey) at other locations. Phoebe Russell’s film portrait for instance, was shot by Gerard Malanga in the summer of 1966 in Ed Hood’s apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (AD169) Although Malanga has maintained that the Screen Test series started as a result of him asking Warhol to shoot a head shot of Gerard to use to publicize Malanga’s poetry readings (GM24-5), a more likely inspiration for the film portraits (aka Screen Tests) was the photobooth photography that Warhol started doing in the late spring of 1963. (AD13)
472 film portraits were made. (AD) In addition to The 13 Most Beautiful Boys, some of the footage was incorporated into other compilation reels such as The 13 Most Beautiful Women (1964) and 50 Fantastics and 50 Personalities (1964).
Check out a trailer of the film:
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