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WEEKEND MAG
So you think you're a pretty good judge of character, but just what exactly do you base your opinions of other people on? A saucy exhibition at The Andy Warhol Museum pushes the question, well, "In Your Face," challenging the perception that we can make accurate judgments about people from looking at their "mug shots."
Its premise is that, as with a book and its cover, packaging can be deceptive. A veritable rogues' gallery - or perhaps not - of historic and contemporary images builds the case as the viewer gets caught up in matching impression against actuality.
And who better than Andy Warhol to lead the charge? When commissioned to create a work for the New York State pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair, Warhol painted a mural of mug shots from FBI "most wanted" files. Rejected by fair organizers who were concerned that its seeming celebration of criminality would send the wrong message, it was painted over. But the offending images took on new life as the silk-screened portraits of Warhol's subsequent "Most Wanted Men" series.
Thomas Sokolowski, museum director and curator of the...