Artist Andy Warhol’s love of nature attracts Selby Gardens

Dedicated Andy Warhol fans know the late artist had a passion for flowers and nature even though he is most famous for man-made soup cans and portraits of famous humans.

“Most people don’t associate Andy Warhol with nature, but he was a land preservationist,” said Jennifer O. Rominiecki, president and chief executive officer of Selby Gardens. “He was once quoted as saying, “The best art is land untouched.”

Beginning in February, an exhibition of Warhol’s “Flowers” silkscreen series, including four Warhol silkscreens of hibiscus, will be on display at Selby Gardens as part of a show called, “Warhol: Flowers in the Factory.”

The show will run from Feb. 11 through June.

Rominiecki invites art and flower lovers to visit Selby Gardens, which she likes to call a “living museum” and come to their own conclusions about the ideas and feelings Warhol wove into the flower silkscreens in these 1960s creations.

“So, for me, the interesting thing is that they are jubilant,” Rominiecki said. “The hibiscus absolutely reflect the strong themes of repetition and mass production. They have a slightly dark undertone.

“This was a period when he had been doing a series that was very dark and he was looking for light,” Rominiecki added. “As many of us do, he turned to flowers to look for light.”

Information: 941-366-5731, selby.org or @selbygardens on Facebook, Instagram and others.

This story was originally published July 17, 2017 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Artist Andy Warhol’s love of nature attracts Selby Gardens."