LATEST NEWS!
Andy Warhol -The American Dream,
exhibition in Warsaw's Grand Theatre,
January 2002
And I was there, as always, with my camera ready, and I've brought some pictures for you. If you want to talk about the exhibit, visit my yahoo club, where discussion is welcome on any subject related to Andy: http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/thesilvercoatedloft
The place where the exhibit is shown
Andy's autoportrait, 1981
My friend (right) and me in front of Man Ray, 1975.
James Dean (from Gold Book, 1957)
Untitled, from the series 'In The Bottom of My Garden,' 1956 (isn't it beautiful?)
Omelet Greta Garbo, from 'Wild Raspberries,' 1959
December 2000
Andy voted one of the 10 best artists of the passing century, and featured in an exhibition in Warsaw together with P.Picasso, S. Dali, P. Mondrian, W.Kandinsky, F. Bacon, J. Beuys, M. Duchamp, C. Brecusi and K. Malewicz.
I visited the Zacheta Gallery here in Warsaw today, and spent almost two wonderful hours laughing and joking, and discussing the so works presented there with my friends, some of whom are Dali freaks and Picassomans, and some, like me, Warhol fans. More to come on that very soon!
The works of these ten men from Europe and America were presented in 11 rooms, each one dedicated to one artist (with the exception of Beuys, who had two) and painted in a different colour: Picasso in light blue, Dali in green, Bacon orange, Beuys maize, Andy pink, Duchamp peach, Mondrian blue, Kandinsky grey , Brancusi brown and Malewicz (who was apparently Russian, despite his Polish first and last names!) in red.
I’ll finish off with Malewicz, whose room was the one before the last, since I really didn’t like or understand what I saw there, I admit! The founder of suprematism, his sketches, because that’s all you can call them, were real humble and modest, just different lines crossinng or occasionally a ring or two in between... very small drawing represing a repeated pattern of meaningless (or maybe I’m wrong?) and unfinished shapes, in numbers like you’ve never seen it before! And he has such an ancient, traditional Polish name, a name of medieval kings! Anyway... now to what I liked.
Picasso, well... from the paintings shown there I got the impression that his cubist period was his best, which is a totally false opinion, according to the critics, at least. There was an absolute ideal of what a cubist painting should be, a very small landscape in shades of yellow and maize, and very thin lines of blue and black on that, just to indicate the shape. It was marvellous. But the rest... please, no. Maybe except one early realistic sketch of a poor couple sitting at a table, about to eat a very modest supper. They are so skinny and sad. Shows a master’s hand.
Dali. A line of sketches as well, but I won’t say too much about those –since it was the usual thing –many sexual organs in actions and not, breasts and all, and the usual kind of mutants and monsters in the strangest possible postures. But –there was one beautiful example of his surrealist, well, of a little later phase, let’s say, cos from 1949, but still surrealist, portrait of lady immersed in this dreamlike ladscape, so characteristic of his between-the-wars period. The woman’s head and bust are on the extreme right, and she seems to be looking inside her mind, (if I can interpret it well) and the rest of the picture is what she sees there. And it’s a quite fascinating view. A river with a small bridge, stairs leading to a dark, misty sky, etc. A lot of details, and each one doesn’t suit the rest... just Dali. The whole thing is very calm, in fact.
Bacon. I have to think about that part for a while, still...
Andy. The pink room. I was opposed to that colour at first, cos I thought it just categorises him very firmly, but when I saw it I began to like the idea, since it brightened the room a whole lot. First on the left –the Cow, 1970, with authograph. It was actually a poster, framed. Just the cow, olive green against a light blue background. Looks at you! Then the Flowers. 1970. Framed. Next to them –the jewel of the assembly –the Electric Chair of 1967. I wish so much I was able to take a photo. But no. Strict rules. It was huge, what caught my attention was the fuse, down on the left side, just so bare, natural, ‘no comment.’ I wish, too, that they had more of his ‘social’ material. Like race riots or accidents. Ooh, just dreaming, I guess. Then the ‘hit’ of the xhibition –portraits. 70s-80s, a Middle-East princess, Tina Freeman (anyone knows who she was?), 1975, a Spanish actress, an Italian actor, 1971. Tina and the guy looked best, in my opinion. The Italiano, already with greyish hair, sporting a fag in his hand, putting on the king of cool and that sort. And the girl, a bit like a cat or a little tiger, with that ‘wild’ look in the eye. I won’t spend too much over the Dollars, which were white/ yellow and black. I have to tell you everythinga bout ‘Peaches In Halves,’ however. The were perhaps the cutest Andy thing I’ve ever seen! Painted! (Attention!), dated 1962. The paint spilt down over the surface of the picture a little, but it seems to emphasize its quality all the more! It was a can, of course, just in case of any doubts. Aqua, orange and white. Yeah. Real good. You wanna eat them! Immediately I thought of the fact that he started out with painting boots, in advertising. I think I’d buy what he sold. But there we go again. They could have brought some brillo boxes, something to put in the centre of the room, as well. Anyway. I wasn’t disappointed. The rest, about the others, will come duly, in a short time. But that’s what I could ramble out about Andy and the first two, for a start, late in the evening...