Andy Warhol: Screen Tests

1964-1966. Directed by Andy Warhol

Reviewed by Shawn Pavey
Special to Bestfilmfests.com

A Set of Six Self-Portraits, 1967 Buy From Art.com

Between 1964 and 1966, Andy Warhol filmed 500 of what he called Screen Tests - black and white, silent films running about four and a half minutes long, shot on 16mm film. His subjects included models, artists, actors, and celebrities that he used in his longer films.

The four tests shown at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, footage of "Baby" Jane Holzer, Piero Heliczer (looking remarkably like a young Dennis Hopper), Donyale Luna, and Beverly Grant, provided a glimpse of Warhol's ability to transcend mediums with his art.

As in much of Warhol's work, repetitive images became art as he manipulated them to produce different qualities in each replication. We're all familiar with his Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Campbell's Tomato Soup can multiple screen-printed portraits.

What Warhol does with these films is convert the conventional "screen test" into a work of art. By using black and white 16mm film shot at 16 frames per second, we see a piece of the subject in the rapid flicker of the stark images.

One subject, uncomfortable with the stillness, bounces in place, mugs for the camera, and seems both uncomfortable in his own skin and beautiful in his incessant motion.

Viewing these starkly lit faces staring at us though both the camera and time, there is a sense of intimacy and eternity, as in all important art. And while silent, this film has great voice in the potency of the image, with each subject sitting in front of a camera as if saying, "Look at me. See me as I am right now."

Shawn Pavey is a published poet, musician and teacher at the prestigious North Carolina Governors' School.

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Although best known for his portraits of Marilyn and Campbell soup, Warhol worked with many different images.

View our galleries of:

• Warhol portraits

• Warhol cats

• Warhol animals

For more information on Andy Warhol's work and the stars he filmed visit www.warholstars.org or visit the website of The Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, where you can make a screenprint online using Warhol's techniques.

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Andy Warhol: The Complete Picture
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