#ageofwarhol

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Koons' work becomes influential when discussing the aesthetics of camp in relation to Warhol. While Koon's sculptures invite a more obvious source of reflection through residual culture and the banal, Warhol's paintings are still up for open interpretation. 

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Andres Serrano's Piss Christ

Danto poses an interesting question when considering religious iconography in Warhol's work; when describing Serrano's piece, he asks, "Is the crucifix not an object of worship as much so as the person crucified?" 

When comparing Warhol's boxes to the real brillo boxes, Danto creates an analogy of a bone fragment put in gold encasing to compare- is it the casing that calls our attention to the object, rather than the object in itself? What does it mean when we separate Andy's idea of a Brillo Box with the physical representation of it? How does this relate to the way people interact with religion- do they pay too much attention to the physical objects while losing sight of what lies beyond it?

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It is interesting to analyze the concept of celebrity and adulation in the art world in relation to Warhol and Basquiat. While Warhol might have achieved his definition of success by becoming a "business artist", Basquiat was destroyed by criticism that he had become an "art world mascot". To what extent is the achievement of fame and celebrity as an artist a success, rather than a failure? Does fame come with a cost, inhibiting an artist's potential to do avant garde work? 

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I wanted to re-post this image, this time thinking about it in the context of reappropriation in the latest Warhol interview and according to Goldsmith. Goldsmith claims that he does not find the point in fiction. There is so much material that surrounds us that can be made into art, using the appropriate lens when looking at it, dissecting it, and contextualizing it. 

I can see a similar thing happen in the contemporary world of great art: more and more often, it is works of public art, or socially engaged art, that become famous as engaging pieces of work that make news in the contemporary art world. Is art through the context of a social practice reappropriation? Is it enough to see things through a different lens in order to understand and conceptualize it? When there is so much more information in our saturated world, how can reappropriation and reframing make for more interesting and relevant works of art? But also, more importantly, where does this leave the tradition of painting, as questioned in the latest Warhol interview? Is the prevalence of one medium the death of another?

[ageofwarhol]

"And I saw The Story of Will Rogers..."

"I'm reading Dancing on My Grave..."

"I'm watching Yankee Doodle Dandy right now" 

- February 15-16, 1987

The Diaries also function in the same way as the time capsules which contain magazines, invoices, cutouts, correspondence that inspired Warhol. As elusive as he is, it is amazing how he has left such abundant traces of what influenced him in terms of art and media. By studying the time capsules and the diaries, one could hypothetically follow Warhol's process of thought. 

HY

[ninocricco-blog]

I'd like us to consider Warhol's attitudes towards emerging artists and his decreasing importance in the art world in the 80's as told by Patt Hackett's The Andy Warhol Diaries. Warhol seems to have a very derisive attitude towards Schnabel, but warms up to Haring and Basquiat. What is it about Schnabel that pisses off Warhol so much, and why does he not have the same attitudes towards Haring or Basquiat? But more importantly, how is Warhol himself losing ground in a post-Warhol world, so saturated of Warholian influences but that somehow, still leaves him behind?

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Seven American Death and Disasters

Kenneth Goldsmith's book's approach to the mediated public events that shape American consciousness raises questions about Warhol's Death and Disaster series. Although the notion of death permeates Warhol's work, death is always a little removed from the audience: it's the death of a stranger, or the death of a public figure. Even when dealing with Kennedy's death, Warhol does it indirectly through the Jackie portraits: it seems he shies away from depicting events that traumatize the public. I wonder if Warhol would have done a series on the towers had he been alive: would Warhol's repetition be enough to erase or dilute the feelings that this tragic image brings up? Are we, as an audience in a post 9/11 world, too affected about these things to be "Warholed"?

[ageofwarhol]

It is ironic how Andy blurred the line between life and art in his work but his private life seems so separate from the Factory and his art, which capitalized on the personal (especially sexual) lives of others. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol offers insight into Andy as a distinctive individual but seeing as how gender and sexuality play a big role in his work, I still feel like there is a lack of information about these categories as they apply to him. 

HY