Monday 28 May 2012

Andy Warhol Weekend


Gosh. That's the best possible way to start a post about Andy (and you'll discover why by reading all this stuff).
Pittsburgh is his native city, the place where he graduated in 1949 ( at the Carnegia Institute of Technology, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design) and the place he left looking for something more. 

"Almost Pittsburgh" is also the place where he is buried, in a very simple way. It is possible to see his grave here and leave there your telematic hommage.


This long weekend has definitely been the Andy Warhol one, by right. I started on Friday, visiting the Andy Warhol Museum. On Saturday I went to see the musical Pop! at the City Theatre (south side). [here the Facebook Page]. On Sunday I checked out some more information about him and his super-stars (Edie Sedgwick in primis: I also bought a book about her and her dinasty). On Monday, Memorial Day, I ride to Oakland to see Andy's house, located at 3252 Dawson Street. 
Here I just want to share with you some pictures and my impressions about this experience. 
(one of Andy's works as illustrator: Papageno serie).

The museum is opened until 10pm on Friday, perfect solution for end your "casual day". I even paid half ticket, I don't know if it is like this all the Fridays or just this. Then my visit started from the 6th floor going down. I saw the permanent collection, always updated taking from the storage "something new". I visited the museum also last summer and certain things changed (in better). Great selection of the pieces.


the 6th floor is mainly dedicated to the videos, all deserving to spent the correct amount of time to enjoy them. Weird is the word, amazing is the comment, uncanny is the feeling. Sitting on fancy star poufs, you can see Andy's produtions and his team of "Incredibles". 


 The type of camera he used give the videos a very home-made appearance: this augment the sense of really seeing them talking and chatting as they were still alive. 
Very interesting and equally peculiar the videos in the corridor and in the other room, projected on big screens, showing faces and bodies, doing nothing but looking at you. 


As you go down, floor by floor, you encounter Andy's early works as illustrator, but also issues of Interview, other video, thousands of pictures about him young, very young or old. All mixed in a pre-ordered mess, very Andy style, that results to be perfectly readable anyway. You can definitely follow the story, even if the pieces are so numerous and apparently confusing. 
(on the left: dog stuffed with straw)
The lowest floors are dedicated to his paintings and to the "sculptures" he built/made/arranged. 
You cannot miss the balloon room, for children but also for adults.Because Andy knew that there is a children hidden in every adult: male, female or even confused. This is probably part of his secret: building toys for adults, working on (and activating) the most remote memory of our infancy. 

 

When I look at his art, I can always recognize what I'm looking at. But the meaning is different, indeed, and the approach to that is -I think- first of all childish, and only after more "serious". 



This lecture of Andy is due also by enjoying the musical Pop! The story is simple, there isn't a regul plot, but all a collection of memories about Andy's superstars. On the stage I could listen to Candy's, Edie's, Diva's, Valery's, Gerard's and Ondine's point of view about Andy. They are the main role's, actually, coz the story is set as if Andy is just a director of ready-made puppets. The musical emphatizes Andy's passivity, even if this is not exactly true. You cannot become "Andy Warhol" only saying gosh! gosh! gosh! every time one of the superstars is asking you money or a part in a B movie <but with a different letter>. 
(this video refers to the world premiere in 2009, 
with some differences, but same humor and songs)

But don't misunderstood me: the musical is great and probably is the right tribute to the "paper dolls" that -as Edie sings- just wanted to be dressed up by Andy (despite claiming later for the appreciation of their performances in the Factory). It's all a story about the psychologic slavery that the Superstars suffered from Andy, he being unable to stop or overlook on that. but this is the lecture that comes out from watching the musical, I could not consider this a "scientific" Andy's  biography.
it's for sure a very interesting musical, little if compared to the Brodway's superproductions, but definitely complete and entertaining. Nice songs, great effort from every actor (except for Andy, but this is fault of the character, not of the actor). Great work on the similarity of the cast to the Superstars. Great fun hearing Candy's talking and singing as a woman, but played by a terrific Brian Charles Rooney. He did great, considering that he had to play and sing as a woman, but at times also as a woman that mocks and apes at others. Great interpretation, very high quality. Congrats!

The last piece of the story (talking about my Andy's weekend) is the ride toward his house. I arrived there in the morning, with the only intention to see that and take some pictures. The house is now private, I suppose, not abandoned but for sure closed, when I was there. The sun was exactly behind that, so I couldn't take great pictures but for the followings.

And that's all, I suppose. Or, as Andy sings in the last song ("Andy's philosophy"), that's NOTHING. 


Sunday 20 May 2012

Global Navigators, following the Path


Today I'll mainly talk about videos. I've never gone deeper in this field than watching something on youTube and reading about the existence of this artistic "support". I'm not an expert, but I'm deeply convinced about the fact that the line between a go video and just rubbish is very thin.

At the Wood Street Galleries is possible to visit some video-installation that really left me amazed. Special thanks to my friend Kevin for showing me the best of Pitt and the coolest Galleries! The Galleries are located all around two block in the Downtown, but here I'll present you space by space, following the order we followed yesterday.

WOOD STREET+6TH
It's the main space, just above one of the T-line stops. You can visit two spaces (for two installation) with a video each.
At the 2nd floor you'll be able to see Peter Bogers with Unleashed content, 2011.

see the video here

To complete this installation, made of 36 small screen (all projecting different videos from each other) Peter collected an incredible amount of videos according to "key words" and then composed them to obtain a huge video. 
Small loudspeakers are hanging from the ceiling and they transmit the audio of each screen, but in a very delicate way. It's not annoying, but very effective instead: if you stay near those, you only hear the sound of a video, while if you stay far, the final effect is clear and winning, giving you a sense of unity even in the multiplicity.
Few notes about this: the amount of nonsense videos it's simply incredible. Peter Bogers did a great job, also from an anthropological point of view. What a faces...!

On the second floor, instead, you can see a completely different video about  a performance by Guido Van der Werve. He keeps walking near the North Pole, while an icebreaker is following him. Astonishing and weird, totally absorbing. 
The video you can find here is in very low quality, but gives you the idea. 


Another piece by Guido van der Werve was guested at the SPACE  707 (Penn Ave)
with him standing for 24 hours at the north pole, this time with suitable clothes (in the previous one, he was wearing blue jeans and simple coat).

At the SPACE 709 Penn Ave, changing environment and artistic technique, here you are the freezed images from the exhibit Girl 'n Guns. Working on the concept of shooting: with a gun & with the camera (very short opening times, to grab every little movement and "freeze" the image). She fires the still life compositions, and the final effect is as magic as upsetting. 




A little praise for the mice pictures... very nice, and not banal from a technical point of view. Colors well balanced and interesting composition. Extra score for the concrete frame, perfect for the subject. 

We stopped also at the SPACE 812 LIBERTY AVENUE. Here I appreciated the video interaction between man and machine, arranged by Geert Mul. Interesting but I'm not sure it is that meaningful. Nice video toy, maybe. Didn't seem something new.

Definitely more interesting the PATH SPACE (943 Liberty Ave) and almost scaring! 
Here you can enter a completely dark labyrinth, build with plywood, all white painted (but ou don't know that). As you go inside, you can explore the space waiting to see the few light cuts Elin Hansdottir created. I entered alone and almost got lost in 6'x6' complexive space. The Gallery used to be an adult book store... now only the walls are there, everything is empty. My friends asked me what kind of space (before being gallery) I thought it was and I said "Fast food?". Then they told me the truth... 
The labyrinth see from a private space, kind of hidden mezzanine above the installation.