Andy Warhol is widely regarded as the most important artist of the second half of the 20th century, and he brought the vision of a successful artist to his film-making activities. Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests are beautiful and revealing portraits of different individuals, shot between 1963 and 1966. The subjects – both famous and anonymous – were visitors to his studio, The Factory. They were asked to pose, lit with a strong keylight, and filmed by Warhol with his stationary 16mm Bolex camera on silent, black and white, 100-foot rolls of film. Each screen test lasted only as long as the roll of film. The resulting 2 ¾ minute films were projected in slow motion so that each lasted four minutes.

13 Most Beautiful…Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests is a project jointly commissioned by the Andy Warhol Museum and Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Indie rock luminaries Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips have composed music for thirteen of Warhol’s four-minute, silent film portraits, the Screen Tests, which takes the form of a multimedia performance featuring large scale video projection of the Screen Tests above the musicians performing live on stage.

If you are a fan of Andy Warhol, surely this event is not to be missed.

13 Most Beautiful comes to New York City’s West Village at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, October 22, 2010.