Andy Warhol and his Brave New World

In 1986, Andy Warhol embarked on a new series of screenprints which responded to his fascination with the myths and legends of the American West.  Warhol appropriated photographs from movies and other sources as he began to codify the West in visual terms.  Warhol’s effort to “focus” his gaze toward the American West resulted in a suite of 10 images which each had a limited print run of 250 (signed and numbered by the artist).  G. R. Swenson, in Collage (1965), offered the following comment regarding Pop Art artists like Andy Warhol and their penchant for cliches and stock responses.  “It is the most common cliches, the most comon stock responses which we must deal with first if we are to come to some understanding of the new possibilities available to us in this brave and not altogether hopeless new world.”  Do you believe that Warhol’s Cowboys and Indians  is a suite of screenprints that are “cliches and stock responses” to the myths and legends of the American West?  Your thoughts?

Andy Warhol, John Wayne (from the Cowboys and Indians Suite, 1986)

Andy Warhol, Geronimo (from the Cowboys and Indians Suite, 1986)

Warhol’s Polaroids—Snap Judgments

Andy Warhol’s interest in photography, Hollywood and the film industry, and the new technology offered by the Polaroid Land company, opened some doors of opportunity for portraiture.  Many of Warhol’s most celebrated portraits came into being through the “snap judgment” of Polaroid cameras and the lure of immediate access to “instant” imagery.  Jasper Johns, the American Pop Art artist who was friends with Warhol, made the following comment in the 1972 documentary Painters Painting:  “The term Pop Art suggests that everything is certain.”  An interesting thought, especially in the context of Warhol’s use of “instant” imagery afforded by the Polaroid camera.  Do you think Warhol’s use of Polaroid technology for the formal content of his celebrity portraits is characterized by John’s statement about “certainty” quoted above?  Your thoughts?

Andy Warhol, Polaroid of Caroline, Princess of Monaco

 

Culture and the City 2

Right now I find myself in a very special spiritual space.  Having spent close to a week in NYC, my soul and spirit is immersed in art.  Everywhere I look, I see art.  The conversations, the dialogue, the interactions between people are magically engaged in art making of some sort.  Art seems to be everywhere.  The sounds, the rhythms, the textures of this city are really amazing.  Two Art faculty and myself interviewed around 70 candidates for four tenure track positions at UNLV the past few days.  All of the interviews we conducted for the four faculty positions the Department of Art is looking to fill, fills me with “artspeak”.  Very exciting sensation!  Reminds me of the words of the American watercolorist E. A. Whitney:  “Design is like gravity—the force that holds it all together.”  As students currently taking an art class at UNLV, where do you get “artspeak”?  Where do you find “the force that holds it all together?

There is also a curious tension here in NYC which is also present in Las Vegas—only different somehow.  The tension in Vegas has a different tautness I suspect.  Joy Hester, an Australian modernist painter, once remarked:  “. . . .it’s really a tightrope sort of thing, living”.  Her works seems to resonate with me right now.  As you work your way to the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art Tuesday evening for our first meeting in the Warhol exhibition, please pay close attention to the sights, sounds, smells, textures that surround you as you drive and transition from campus (or where ever you are coming from) to the BGFA.  And think of the quotes listed above, from Whitney to Hester, as you make this transition.  Hopefully we can have an “artspeak” discussion at this, our first meeting with the Warhol gallery.  See you soon!

Joy Hester, Figure

Joy Hester, Girl

 

 

Culture and the City

Having spent a full day in NYC and about to participate in the second, I find myself very grateful for the vision, development and investment by lovers of art and culture for future generations.  As you begin to close out your formal education, do you see yourself living in a large urban environment like NYC, where you will have cultural choices of immense proportions, or do you suspect you would prefer a quieter place to live removed from the energy and vibrancy of modern city life?  What choices do you anticipate making as far as living environments are concerned and why?

Andy Warhol and his Multi-Images

As we are about to slip inside the BGFA and see the Warhol Out West exhibition up close and personal,has his fascination with multiple images run their course in our contemporary society?  Do his repetitive investigations of celebrities via portraits lack a certain necessary relativeness of the human condition in the 2010s when compared with his 1960’s standards?  In other words, are we stepping into a time capsule whose relativeness has ceased to exist, or do you suspect Warhol’s art, his vision, his grasp of the visual world surrounding him may still be relevant to us today?

Andy Warhol, Marilyn

Andy Warhol, Chairman Mao

Andy Warhol, Pop Art and Meaning

Urban life emerged out of the ashes of WWII with a new resonance.  The two world wars spurred on advances in technology which most likely would not have happened as quickly as it did without the conflagrations.  Nevertheless, such great leaps in technology came at a price.  The human tragedies associated with the two world wars was but one price to be paid.  A second installment on the monetary duty would be the emergence of a late Modern saturation of noise and imagery never before experienced by mankind.  Andy Warhol seems to have picked up on this particular thread of resonance in the 1960s when he said:  “Every song has a memory; every song has the ability to make or break your heart, shut down the heart, and open the eyes.  But I’m afraid if you look at a thing long enough; it loses all of its meaning…The mystery was gone but the amazement was just starting.”  What are your thoughts on this idea expressed by Warhol within the context of early Pop Art?

Warhol Out West Exhibition at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art

Once the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art’s exhibition Warhol Out West is installed and opened to the general public, we will be examining in great detail the work of a Pop Art master.  As we begin this assessment of one of the founding father’s of Pop Art, I would like for you to reflect on a response by Warhol to a question published in Art News in 1963-4.  In your opinion, what do you think Warhol means in this response and is the artist’s answer applicable today 50 years later?  “Those who talk about individuality most are the ones who most object to deviation, and in a few years it may be the other way around.  Some day everybody will probably be thinking alike.”