Revolver Gallery is a Los Angeles-based art gallery with a one-artist program focused on Andy Warhol's pop art career. With over 300 Warhols in its collection, Revolver houses the largest gallery-owned collection of Andy Warhol's artwork world-wide.
History
Revolver was established in Beverly Hills in 2012 by entrepreneur Ron Rivlin who began collecting Warhol after learning that a friend realized a 600% return from a Warhols purchased 10 years earlier. Rivlin then started buying "everything he liked." In a 2015 interview, he said, “My rule was, if I would put it up behind my sofa, I would buy it.” Revolver is notable for exclusively dealing Warhol's work. Now, with over 300 original prints and paintings in its collection, Revolver Gallery has the largest gallery-owned collection of Warhol works in the entire world.
A small gallery at launch, Revolver exhibited Warhol pieces through traveling exhibits such as Andy Warhol: Icons & Symbols. The exhibit opened at L’Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills and later moved to the Malibu Lumber Yard Gallery. Other exhibits included Andy Warhol's Ten Prolific Jews, Andy's Socialites and Gotti on Trial.
In 2017, Revolver moved from Beverly Hills to a larger gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. Its first exhibit, Andy Warhol Revisited, opened on February 22, 2017, the 30th anniversary of Warhol's death. In addition to Warhol's work, the Bergamot location exhibited a work done in collaboration with Keith Haring and a tribute to Warhol by Deborah Kass. Revolver subsequently moved to West Hollywood.
The Revolver collection includes Warhol's 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, Andy Mouse (four original screenprints by Keith Haring, depicting Andy Warhol as Mickey Mouse on a dollar bill), Campbell's Tomato Juice Box (a 1964 silkscreen ink and house paint on plywood), and the John Gotti Unique Portfolio (Warhol's four unique screenprints by commission for the cover of Time in 1986).
Notable celebrities who have visited Revolver include: Bruno Mars, Dave Navarro, Ryan Tedder, Coldplay, Jared Leto, and Billy Morrison.
Warhol Revisited [Traveling exhibits]
Vancouver
Revolver's exhibition titled A Different Idea of Love opened in Yaletown's Maison Ai warehouse in early 2015. The showcase included rare works from Revolver's collection, private owners, and The Andy Warhol Foundation For the Arts. Works on display in the show included silkscreens of Elizabeth Taylor, rare silkscreens of Muhammad Ali, and Warhol's silkscreens of shoes. The show was free to the public and was even extended to stay beyond its intended run. At the time, A Different Idea of Love was the largest Warhol show in Canada's history. It was later topped by Revolver's Warhol Revisited: A Mirror for Today that was held in Toronto the same year.
Toronto
Toronto-born Rivlin curated the 2015 exhibit Andy Warhol Revisited: A Mirror For Today in the Yorkville neighborhood of Toronto, Canada. A collaboration with museums, the Andy Warhol Foundation, Christie's, and private collectors, it included more than 120 pieces from the Revolver collection. It was the largest grouping of Warhol's work ever shown in Canada.
Andy Warhol Revisited: A Mirror for Today ran six months in 2015. It included famous Warhol works such as his “Campbell’s Soup Cans” series in addition to silkscreen portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Mick Jagger, and Elizabeth Taylor. Described as a “modern day extension of Warhol’s idea that pop is for everyone,” the exhibit, in addition to displaying Warhol's work, featured interactive elements such as an integrated mobile app and an audio tour. Prior to Revolver's show, the last major Warhol exhibition was hosted by Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg in 2006 at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Revolver's exhibition drew in more than 50,000 visitors between March and April alone.
Los Angeles
Between February 11 and August 27 of 2017, Revolver Gallery launched their exhibition Andy Warhol: Revisited | Thirty Years Later. Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of Andy Warhol's death, the exhibit included over 200 works of art in rotation. Ron Rivlin, curator and founder of Revolver Gallery described the exhibition as “[encapsulating] the artist’s fascination with glamour, fame, money, celebrity and tragedy through his artistic creations.” The exhibition featured rare and sought-after works such as Warhol's Marilyn Monroe silkscreens, a rare Andy Mouse portfolio by artist Keith Haring in collaboration with Warhol, and even Warhol's 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow (complete with original registration). Andy Warhol: Revisited | Thirty Years Later marked the first time that Warhol's car has ever been displayed publicly.