Got this photo before I realized I wasn't allowed to take any photos of the art ...
Walked down to the Andy Warhol Bridge ...
Update: Andy's funeral took place in the Church of the Holy Ghost (Feb. 1987), one of the churches we passed in Pittsburgh last week. Post and photo is here.
Good to see that Pittsburgh honours its eccentric artistic children.
ReplyDeleteI came away with a new appreciation for Mr. Warhol, Barbara - perhaps especially his ability to slow down and observe. He wore a lot of masks during his lifetime, like all of us, hiding behind and in the culture. His art is like a mirror, and I found myself both intrigued and embarrassed looking at it.
ReplyDeleteI worked with Andy Warhol's uncle in Pittsburgh for awhile - he said he was a bum and drunk all the time and wouldn't have anything to do with his family.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Edie Sedgewick's biography I lost any admiration I had for him.
"Sex is the biggest nothing of all time" - Andy Warhol
Not allowed to take photos of Andy Warhol art because of copyright (I assume) sounds like a joke w/in a joke.
I don't doubt that he was a bum and drank all the time. I think I read that he took care of his mother the last 20 years of her life, though.
ReplyDeleteThere was a strange "Dirty Art" section of the museum with many of his sex photos and art. I would call it pornographic. I guess he had a hard time coming to terms with his homosexuality (even though he had a lover), calling it the "problem". He was raised Orthodox Catholic. Definitely a twisted psyche. My take on his art was that he seemed to be able to hold himself at a distance from sex, to look but not touch or engage.
Most of the young men who were working the museum appeared to be gay.
Copyright enfringement may be one significant reason, but flash also, over time, can turn the paint to a tar-like substance.
ReplyDeleteI knew about the flash problem, and had my flash turned off, but still was asked not to take photos of anything. Interesting because of what I was viewing almost seemed like it broke some rule about what could/should be photographed.
ReplyDeleteThere was a large collection of films there - besides several walls with large projections, there was a room with lots of little monitors, maybe about 50, each showing a different warhol film.
Actually, there was something disturbing as well as interesting about the films. Like some line between what is private had been crossed, and the incidentals of life that were filmed became crass. I felt like a peeping tom, looking through the window into private life.
I didn't know anything about Edie Sedgewick before this.
There was a film a few years ago in which the character of Edie Sedgewick played a prominent role. I did not see it. The actress playing the part might have even been nominated for an Oscar.
ReplyDeleteThe movie is Factory Girl (2006). Not sure about the Oscar nomination -- I may have it confused with a film about Jackson Pollack. I saw neither. Here is a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_Girl
ReplyDeletepeeping tom describes the art very well i think - he was prophetic in that respect, i guess, being that we are a nation of voyeurs, as you've pointed out a couple of times - i think he was partly pulling everyone's leg and partly as shallow as he pretended to be
ReplyDeletei didn't know about the flash thing -
re: andy warhol's uncle - i was 19 at the time and one day i wore an andy warhol t-shirt to work - the uncle was a rather dense czech guy or whatever, he kind of looked like andy - we worked in maintenance - he said "ah! varhola! he is my nephew!" then he said " eh, he's a bum, trunk all the time, won't have nothing to do with the family.."
andy and "The Factory" - he pretty much used up his "stars" and threw them out when they crashed and burned, much like a factory -
he's very american
i think edie sedgwick did a movie about her life shortly before hwe death by drug overdose
ReplyDeleteone of the more famous of the counter-culture poets, now being regarded as a "god-father" of poetry slams, John Giorno, got his start in Warhol's movie "Sleep" which is 8 hours of a camera on Giorno in bed sleeping.
"Walk on the Wild Side" by Lou Reed, who also got his start with Warhol, features references to Factory regulars: the Sugar Plum Fairy, Holly Wood, Jackie somebody or other...
Yeah, I think you nailed it, Marc. Very American. Used people and then tossed them. He was also an avid shopper.
ReplyDeleteFamily was from somewhere in Eastern Europe (Slovakia?).
It's interesting to me how he held onto his Orthodox Catholic faith. They say that he went to Church almost every day. All the wierdness, religion and sex went together in him.
Partly pulling our leg and partly what he pretended to be. Definitely shallow, but also an artist: he held up the mirror.
I saw that film "Sleep" in the museum. Then I looked up Giorno and found out he's a Buddhist.
ReplyDeleteI looked up Edie and there is a film "Ciao! Manhattan" that they did in 1973, just after she died. I think there is footage of her in the film and it is based on her. I bet that film was somewhere in the museum. There were a lot of films showing there, all you had to do was pick up a set of earphones and sit down and watch. Probably about 75 films, all showing at the same time.
In 1972 when I was 21 years old I was in Switzerland and met a tall blond artist, Brad Johannsen. Brad and I became friends for awhile then I lost touch with him. All he talked about was Andy Warhol. I was only vaguely aware of him at that time. I guess that they are now era icons.