Dealer, Actress, Pop Icon: Homage to Holly Solomon

Holly Solomon sits in front of the nine-panel silkscreen portrait that Andy Warhol created of her. Courtesy Holly Solomon Estate.

“I’m Holly Solomon and I would like to make an exhibition in this room,” Chelsea gallerist Pavel Zoubok recalls the flamboyant art dealer announcing to a waiter in La Maison du Chocolat’s cocoa-colored tearoom. It was 2001 and Solomon’s health had begun to decline, but she was still sharp-witted and imaginative. Inspired by the Upper East Side café’s chocolate-covered décor and swirling upholstery, the dealer, then in her late 60s, envisioned the space filled with works by artists she represented such as Julia Jacquette and Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt. “No matter where she went,” says Zoubok, “she could see the art woven into the environment.”

It is this spirit of adventurousness and ingenuity that Zoubok evokes in the upcoming exhibition “Hooray for Hollywood!” The show, which will feature works by such figures as Laurie Anderson, Robert Mapplethorpe, Izhar Patkin, Andy Warhol, and William Wegman, will pay homage to Solomon’s achievements as both a gallerist and Pop icon, as well as the enduring friendships she fostered with her artists. “Hollywood,” which is co-curated by Steven Sergiovanni and Heather Bhandari, opens Thursday at Pavel Zoubok Gallery and Mixed Greens gallery in New York.

Solomon’s dynamic personality is captured in the portrait section of the exhibition. The dealer, who studied acting with Lee Strasberg, reveals her theatrical side in works by Mapplethorpe and Wegman. Read the full story on artnews.com!