Comments on Warhol the Eternal

My earliest, haziest, possibly reconstructed entirely from my mother's stories memories of art are about Andy Warhol. When I was very small, about 2 years old, my mother used to take me to all the museums in DC and in the modern art museum they had some Warhol soup cans (the bigger ones, not the smaller ones). I used to love those paintings and demand to see them every time we went to the museum. Once, we went and they weren't there. I threw a tantrum.

But after a gazillion knock offs, Andy Warhol is PLAYED OUT. Is there anything interesting left in his work? That's the thing about pop culture, it's omnipresent, and then incredibly boring almost immediately.

Even his materials and mediums (like house paint, screen printing) were never meant to last. I think if he was alive, he'd be laughing his ass off about how much we worship his images.

If you think that knockoffs ruin Warhol's work, then you never understood Warhol in the first place. Ironically, for me, he becomes more original the more he's copied.

Warhol is God and the work is still powerful and important.

The Disasters and Electric Chairs are fucking brilliant and haunting.

@1, I was EXACTLY the same stroppy child when the Mao at Art Institute of Chicago went on loan!

@2, you were pwned by @3. I can also assure you that if he were laughing that we bought them, he'd be doing so whilst counting every. Single. Penny.

@4, you are correct and do not discount the shadows series, either.

and the Diaries are hee-larious!

Jen,
You're right the Stonehenge replica (not exact but the same dimensions) is totally cool. I was just there about a month ago. It's actually a WWI memorial to Klickitat County soldiers killed in that war. It was put up by a local Quaker-pacifist named Sam Hill who is buried about 60' away from the monument. It's at Maryhill State Park near the museum where the Warhols are to be exhibited. And, for astronomy buffs there is a free public observatory in nearby Goldendale. It's also Washington wine country. Gorgeous area. Check it out.