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Andy Warhol: A series of portraits of Mary-Jean Mitchell Green from Portraits From The Factory at the Bermuda National Gallery. (Photograph by Blaire Simmons)<\/p>\n
Franklin Hill Perrell will share his first-hand knowledge of American artist Andy Warhol and his orbit when he speaks at the Bermuda National Gallery about its exhibition Andy Warhol: Portraits from the Factory.<\/p>\n
Perrell is chief curator at the Nassau County Museum of Art but has a long-standing relationship with the gallery and remains an ex-officio board member.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe gallery has never looked better,\u201d he said in a recent phone conversation. \u201cThe two shows \u2014 the Warhol portraits and the Michael Frith retrospective \u2014 are world-class and could be shown anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
His talk tomorrow will discuss Warhol\u2019s portraits, all produced in the artist\u2019s studio called the \u201cFactory\u201d.<\/p>\n
In its first location in the 1960s, the Factory acted as the centre of New York\u2019s counterculture. After Warhol was shot by a Factory hanger-on in 1968, it moved to Union Square, becoming a more controlled environment.<\/p>\n
Perrell will discuss this later period, before Warhol died in 1987. During this period, the artist shifted his focus primarily to portraiture.<\/p>\n
Warhol\u2019s portraits from the 1970s and 1980s, generously on loan to the gallery from the Green Family, were curated for this exhibition by Eve Godet Thomas. The exhibition includes images of rock stars and politicians, actresses and comedians as well as a stunning portrait of Mary-Jean Mitchell Green.<\/p>\n
The suite of three multimedia prints, accompanied by Warhol\u2019s preparatory Polaroid images, memorialises Bermudian Mary-Jean Green \u2014 wife of Peter Green and mother to Alexander and Andrew Green, the Hamilton Princess owners \u2014 who died prematurely in 1990 at age 38.<\/p>\n
While Perrell first met Warhol in the New York art scene in the 1970s, his relationship with the island began when he first visited in 1999.<\/p>\n
By this point in his career, he was a well-established arts professional. After actively exhibiting as a painter in downtown New York, Perrell began working with the Nassau County Museum of Art, which is housed in the former Frick family estate in Roslyn Harbor, Long Island.<\/p>\n
There, he helped elevate the museum\u2019s profile as a major suburban institution and became chief curator in 2009. After founding and operating an art education and curatorial organisation between 2013 and 2023 (Artful Circle LLC), Perrell returned to the museum to resume his role as chief curator.<\/p>\n
In addition to being introduced to Warhol\u2019s portraits and methods, tomorrow\u2019s audience will hear about Perrell\u2019s time in New York City, when he worked in Warhol\u2019s ambit. That world \u2014 glamorous and steeped in celebrity \u2014 is epitomised in the BNG exhibition with the small but eloquent screen print of Marilyn Monroe.<\/p>\n
In his talk at the BNG, Perrell will explore the back stories of the Marilyn Monroe and Mary-Jean Green portraits and others, including a suite of prints depicting Mick Jagger, based on a series of Polaroids taken when the Rolling Stones frontman visited Warhol\u2019s estate in Montauk, Long Island. The suite of prints goes beyond celebrity portraiture, instead commemorating his relationship with Mick.<\/p>\n
\u201cWarhol was encyclopaedic,\u201d Perrell argues. \u201cThat is what comes across in this show.\u201d<\/p>\n
All the themes that fascinated Warhol are on view, the famous and the infamous, the glamorous fa\u00e7ade and tender humanity. Warhol understood the impact of image in a media-driven world. He understood how \u201ccelebrity and fame have replaced the gods and goddesses of ancient Rome\u201d.<\/p>\n
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Andy Warhol Portraits From The Factory. Feb 10,2026 (Photograph by Akil Simmons)<\/p>\n
Underpinning all the glamour and the glitz, however, Perrell recognises a strong democratic spirit. While he was fascinated by fame, Warhol produced easily recognisable imagery. And, although he produced one-of-a-kind portraits for the fabulously wealthy, he also sought to expand the dissemination of his work. That\u2019s why, in 1967, he started Factory Additions, which released the Mick Jagger prints, using the multiplicity of the screen printing process to reach a larger audience.<\/p>\n
Among other topics, Perrell will describe Warhol\u2019s layered processes, which used screen prints, photographs, stencils of drawings, and the artist\u2019s brush. Often, what Warhol produced was the \u201cvestiges of the original image\u201d. With the exhibit at the BNG, Perrell will have a full range of images to describe Warhol\u2019s practice.<\/p>\n
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Andy Warhol Portraits From The Factory. Feb 10,2026 (Photograph by Akil Simmons)<\/p>\n
Alongside such technical insight, Perrell will share his personal experience meeting Warhol while living in New York.<\/p>\n
The first time Perrell met the artist, he was working for an artist coalition raising money for a New York mayoral candidate. Seeking donations, Perrell looked up Warhol\u2019s name in the phone book and called him. Warhol invited him to the Factory and donated a print for sale, despite not supporting the candidate. When Perrell asked him why he was still willing to donate, Warhol simply said: \u201cI give to everyone who asks.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Perrell, this incident suggested the complexity of the artist\u2019s personality, at once shy and open, enamoured by glamour but charitable and giving.<\/p>\n
Warhol famously deflected questions about himself by saying: \u201cIf you want to know about me, just look at my paintings.\u201d Perrell believes this exhibition offers such an opportunity, a chance to see the many layers of the artist.<\/p>\n
Franklin Perrell\u2019s Meeting Warhol in Art and in Life takes place tomorrow from 5.30pm to 7.30pm at the Bermuda National Gallery. Tickets \u2014 $20 for BNG Members, $30 for non-members and free for teachers \u2014 must be purchased in advance at bng.bm\/warhol-in-art-and-life<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Warhol: A series of portraits of Mary-Jean Mitchell Green from Portraits From The Factory at the Bermuda…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,196635,458,459,64,63,204939,460,134,33394,229],"class_list":{"0":"post-473415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-general","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-au","13":"tag-australia","14":"tag-bermuda-national-gallery","15":"tag-design","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-painting","18":"tag-reviews"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}