When Andy Warhol visited Fort Collins CSU campus in 1981, he left behind part of his legacy in the form of his artwork, most recognizably the oversized Campbell’s soup can that sits outside the University Center for the Arts today. Now nearly 40 years later, the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art will host ‘Sábado Warhol,’ a one-day exhibit showcasing rare and unusual works from Warhol in the museum’s archives.

‘Sábado Warhol’ will be opening their doors for one day only, this Saturday, Nov. 10 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The event is free, open to the public, and will display works for Warhol the public will have few other opportunities to ever see, as well as a preview of the upcoming documentary from CSU filmmaker Boring about Warhol’s visit to Fort Collins.  

“[Warhol] was very generous with his time, they held round-table discussions and he signed a lot of autographs, which was strange because he was a super shy guy. So, we got him, we got to capture him in a way that no one else was really able too.” -Frank Boring, filmmaker and director behind the upcoming 150 years of CSU film project.

 “The idea is two-sided,” said Dr. Francisco Leal, program organizer and associate professor with CSU’s department of languages, literature and cultures. “One is to let people see Warhol’s pieces that the museum had at the permeant collection. We wanted to make it as inclusive as possible, we want to make it bilingual in Spanish and English. But the main idea is to see the Warhol pieces that are not on expedition, they’re in storage.”

Sábado Warhol is a special event as some of Warhol’ pieces will be on display for the first time ever. The Gregory Allicar Museum of Art has the pieces in almost permanent storage for preservation and research, and some are likely never be on display after Saturday’s event for a long time.

“The bilingual part is to make the universality of Warhol’s art even more inclusive,” said Leal. “And that’s one part of it. Then, while we were doing this event, I met Frank Boring, a CSU documentary filmmaker. He’s preparing a documentary on 150 years of CSU, and he discovered a great amount of footage when Andy Warhol was here. So, part of the event also we show a preview of the documentary that he’s doing, and we show never seen before footage of Warhol here.”

More information about ‘Sábado Warhol’ is available at artmuseum.colostate.edu/sabadowarhol

Boring, the filmmaker, and director behind the upcoming 150 years of CSU film project, shares Leal’s enthusiasm for the event. He explained that Warhol rarely left New York but was invited to CSU, and was here for three days. Ralph Christoffersen, who was the CSU president at the time, had a professional team follow him around.

“And what’s amazing is that the Warhol Museum doesn’t have this (footage), New York doesn’t have this stuff,” Boring said. “Instead of walking in and seeing just pictures and posters, people will be able to see this never before seen amazing footage that no one else has. [Warhol] was very generous with his time, they held round-table discussions and he signed a lot of autographs, which was strange because he was a super shy guy. So, we got him, we got to capture him in a way that no one else was really able too.”

Collegian reporter Walker Discoe can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com and on Twitter @wdiscoe