TAMPA, FL.- For the inaugural exhibition in its grand new home in the Cube at Rivergate Plaza, the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts welcomes Andy Warhol & Friends to Tampa Bay. This landmark exhibition comes from the Andy Warhol Museum, one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, and runs March 10 through May 27, 2012.

Included in Andy Warhol & Friends are vividly hued screen prints as well as photographs and photo booth strips from 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. They feature portraits of such celebrities as John Wayne, Liza Minnelli, Sting, Mick Jagger, Jack Nicholson, Sylvester Stallone, Grace Jones and Dennis Hopper. Also included are Warhol's famous self-portraits.

Warhol (American, 1928-1987) came to fame with the rise of the Pop Art movement in the 1960s and the explosion of print media and popular culture. An acute social observer, Warhol saw that the image of a famous person was more important than the actual person. As Marshall McLuhan observed, "The medium is the message." Warhol realized that the ubiquitous image was the defining quality of a celebrity, that he or she was famous for being famous.

Beginning with a photographic image, Warhol often manipulated it in ways that mimicked the production qualities of mass market magazines and newspapers. A puppet master of publicity, he knew the value of fame. "Don't pay any attention to what they write about you.," he said. " Just measure it in inches."

Also on view are selections from the museum's permanent collection.