Andy With Ten Gallon Hat PHOTO: Bob Broder 1968

“Warhol: From Dylan to Duchamp,” the unseen work of Tucson photographer Bob Broder, will be on exhibition at the Eric Firestone Downtown Gallery starting February 27^th.

Eric Kroll, a TASCHEN photo book editor, and gallery owner Eric Firestone, curated the exhibition.  The show combines 28 of the greatest photographers of our time – – Dennis Hopper, Helmut Newton, Nat Finkelstein, Cecil Beaton, Annie Leibovitz, Robert Mapplethorpe, Billy Name, Bob Broder, Bob Adelman, Gerard Malanga, Anton Perich, Michael Tighe, Patrick McMullan and others. This inside look into the wonderful Age of Warhol showcases a rare assemblage of color, and black-and-white original prints, including a prestigious body of work on loan from the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection.

Kroll, who also lives in Tucson, recently discovered Broder’s Mother lode of Sixties Warhol images — never-before-seen, black-and-whites of the artist filming his Underground sex-Western, “Lonesome Cowboys.”  The film was shot in 1968 at Old Tucson Studios and Rancho Linda Vista in the city of Oracle.  Critics consider “Cowboys” the precursor to “Brokeback Mountain.”

Broder, a former chief photographer of the University of Arizona stated: “I haven’t looked at those negatives in over 40 years. I was a stringer for The Arizona Republic back in the sixties.  I drove my ’65 Mustang with the white, vinyl top to the Old Tucson set. It was a non-union production, so I didn’t get booted out…besides, I knew the sheriff.  I remember [Warhol] didn’t say much. And, he had high heels. He didn’t bother me, and I didn’t bother him.”

In tandem, Eric Firestone Gallery presents a continuous viewing of “Warhol Out West,” a docu-pic on “Cowboys” by late Tucson artist, Charles Littler, a founder of the Rancho Linda Vista artist community who invited Warhol to film there.

Soon, Tucson will be raining Warhols. The Tucson Museum of Art on February 27-July 3 presents “Andy Warhol Portfolios: Life & Legends,” an exhibition of his photo silk-screens, as part of Bank of America’s Art in Our Communities Program.

ANDY Photo by Nat Finklestein 1964-1966

Showing Thursdays this March, the Loft Cinema screens Warhol classics as the Edie Sedgwick double feature, “Poor Little Rich Girl”/ “Kitchen,” “The Hustler,” and, of course, “Lonesome Cowboys.”

Warhol was a magician. He turned his “in” crowd into superstars – Edie Sedgwick, Ultraviolet, Viva, Joe Dallesandro, Holly Woodlawn. He made commerce an art form by parlaying fame into currency with his iconic celebrity portraits of Marilyn, Jackie, Blondie, Liz, and Elvis. Warhol minted money with his silk-screens of the dollar bill.  When his 1963 canvas of Eight Elvises sold privately for $100 million in 2008, he was coined the “bellwether of the art market.”

The public is invited to attend the “Warhol: From Dylan to Duchamp” opening exhibition party February 27, 6:00 PM – MIDNIGHT at the Eric Firestone Gallery located at 403 North 6^th Avenue.  The exhibition runs from February 27- April 25, 2010.  Phone: 520-882-2616 EMAIL: efg@ericfirestonegallery.com