Andy Warhol

While in Pittsburgh for the NCECA conference, we visited the Andy Warhol Museum. I was impressed with it. Even recognizing his work is rather 'easy' to do, you have to admit it's cool.

Pop art is cool.

There I said it. I like Andy's work. He may have been a strange strange man (even gross at times ie. peeing on his canvases for an oxide reaction), but I respect his artwork--or at least his prints.

Also there were works by Jasper Johns and Neke Carson. You know him. He painted Andy Warhol with his butt, termed 'Rectal Realism.' Gross. The painting sucks, but it (or rather his method) caused a big stir.

I loved the Silver Clouds installation that was just a room with 20 or so shiny silver balloons inside. A plaque by the door even read that the balloons were "refurbished." Gee, to think that the original balloons didn't last.

Ron Mueck also had a special exhibit in the Warhol Museum. He creates the most ultra-real human forms I have ever seen. He captures red marks on the skin, hair follicles, dimples, blemishes, and form perfectly. His works are larger than life or tinier than it. They almost strike me as creepy. Yeah, that giant baby you see is creepy, right?

I can't resist but to leave you with my favorite quote by Warhol:

What's great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca Cola, too. A coke is a coke and no amount of money can get you a better coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the cokes are the same and all the cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.