Andy Warhol and Chelsea Girls
Okay, I have waited long enough to post about Andy Warhol and Chelsea Girls, and I can feel the same feelings I had last Thursday that I was trying to push out, creeping back in. Maybe if I write this I will finally feel better.
I think part of my anxiety comes from this feeling of understanding and sympathy for Andy. I feel like maybe I am the only one who isn’t completely repulsed by the film or by Andy himself. While I agree that viewing some of the scenes can be uncomfortable, I think I have witnessed far worse real life shit than what these people were doing. I mean these are choices that they made, Andy did not force them to do anything. In fact I almost think that was his point, he was almost making a mockery of what these people were doing, if I remember correctly from the documentary, he wasn’t one of the people who was shooting speed into his ass, or snorting coke etc. (I think he said 1/2 a diet pill a day to keep him working on his art all night-hardly a druggy). I don’t think he was glorifying this life style at all, in fact judging from the responses in class after the parts we saw on Thursday I’d say he did just the opposite.
I think Andy Warhol had an interest in people, I think he spent many years being ostracized and treated differently for many reasons, he was gay, sickly, a loner, an artist, he did not fit in so to speak. I don’t think it was so far off for him to all of a sudden become popular and want to revel in that. And that’s what people like that do, they make fun of you until it seems to benefit them in some way and then all of a sudden they want to be your best friend, it takes a lot of restraint for a person who has felt so alone for so long to not want to belong. I think the camera gave Andy a way to hide, so that he didn’t actually have to be a part of it, it was the camera and fame that they were interested in, not the person behind it.
As for some of the small nuances of the film like the camera shots of crotches etcetera, I don’t really think much of that. That’s life man, I’ve seen home movies people have made, that do the same damn thing, we are human, we are voyeurs, we want to see what we are not supposed to that’s why even as children we cover our eyes during a scary part of a movie but can’t help but peek through our fingers to see.
Ahh, so I’ll stop short this time, I always go on too much. Bottom line for me anyways is that I feel for Andy, I really don’t see him as being a great manipulator, I think he did some things that no one else had ever done before, and he made (and even still makes) people think about things that maybe they don’t want to. Isn’t that what most artists do, aren’t we all manipulators to some degree?
I guess I feel a little bit better. Peace.
Uncategorized | Comments (4)Andy Warhol and Reality T.V.
I have just finished watching the second half of the Andy Warhol documentary and am left spellbound. I can’t put a finger on exactly what that feeling is or where it comes from, but my understanding of and fascination with Andy Warhol is evident. As embarrassing as it is, I had never really researched much about Andy Warhol in the past. Of course I learned about him and his work while in school, but in a stripped down bare bones version, and it was up to me, the student to take it beyond. I remember attending a wonderful exhibition of his works many years ago in Buffalo New York, but I never really went any farther than that, never learned more about him the artist, his life. Since returning to school over a year ago and expanding my studies into Anthropology, I have learned so much more about the art world itself and Andy Warhol is, in some ways, the epitome of it. In a paper that I wrote about the subject I used two quotes by Andy Warhol on my cover page, both ironically, also used in this film.
“Business art is the step that comes after Art. I started as a commercial artist, and I want to finish as a business artist.”
“Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”
It comes down to knowing people, the consumers the artists the dealers, everyone plays a role in this business. Andy Warhol made the world of commercial art almost acceptable, and did it in such an explosive way. I think he was a true revolutionary, I think he felt so alone and unaccepted in this world and his art was how he expressed that emotion, how he dealt with the pain he felt at being, seeming, feeling so different from everyone else. I think he was quiet enough and passive enough to just be a witness to all that was going on around him and feed off of his surroundings, like in the film it was said that he would just wait and when something new came out he would jump on it. He was studying the world as if he were seeing it all for the first time, like virgin eyes, just observing and learning about this strange world that surrounds him. I can’t help but reference a quote from someone in the first half of the film that said, “Andy always said he was from another planet and he didn’t know how he got here,” I believe he truly felt that way, and really didn’t know how to interfere with the people from the factory who were slowly killing themselves, after all it wasn’t him making their choices for them, it wasn’t even him doing the majority of the drugs (1/2 a diet pill a day if I remember was his maximum). Even when shot at and missed he still did not want to cause conflict with the gun women instead he just played dead.
I don’t think I would have seen the connection between Andy Warhol and reality T.V. so quickly on my own, but after our discussion and viewing the entire film I can see it much more clearly. I have a deep interest myself in people and the things we do, why we do them, I guess you would say that I am a voyeur, I could watch people for hours and never tire of it, I could watch almost any living thing for hours and not tire of it, I am just fascinated by it all. However, one thing that I do know is that people don’t really like being watched by strangers, and the pressure to be a part of social situations when in the midst can be overwhelming for some whose social skills are lacking, that is where a camera comes in. There’s this distance between the lens of a camera and what it is pointed at that is unknown to the participant. It could be zoomed in so close on someone who may not even know it, or completely zoomed out to the disappointment of the “actor” who vies to be a star. This distance allows so much more to happen, and that’s what Andy did he was “not trying to make it happen…he would let it happen.”
He was letting life happen and documenting it in a way that was so new and exciting, and everyone wanted to be a part of it, but why? Was it Andy, was it fame? He wanted to make people famous, and he did. Did he create this whole crazy world to entrap people and film them while they degenerate, or was he at fault for not trying to stop and help them, I don’t think so. If it wasn’t The Factory it would have been something else. There has been a whole new light shed for me about Andy Warhol and I wish I were back in Buffalo 10 years ago seeing that exhibition again, what a different experience it would be just after having learned more about him through these films. There is this power that comes from this medium, video, to evoke a lot of emotions from deep within (me at least). Again, I can’t put my finger on it, but already this class, and the videos we have seen have challenged my inner self in a way that not many other things can.
Peace
Uncategorized | Comment (0)Nam June Paik and Charlotte Moorman
I think to make a complete statement about these two artists would be pretty difficult without directly experiencing the immediacy of their works in person. The music in some of the collaborated pieces of musician/artist Nam June Paik and musician Charlotte Moorman, were at times very intense and engaging, one of them almost sounding like a war or fight; yet others were more peaceful but a little too drawn out for me, I had trouble keeping my patience. As I listened I wondered how different it would be in person. The music acting more like a language, but a foreign language that not only provides the dialogue it also produces the sound effects. But I wonder is it better that we don’t see and just hear? I know I would become focused on the expressions on their faces and the movements of their bodies as they played, that could be so important too.
Again with Nam June Paiks work I have mixed emotions. I find his works to be quite varied within it’s medium. I am taken immediately with this one piece the T.V. Buddha which sets a bronze cast of “Buddha” on a long, low, white pedestal seemingly gazing at his own projection on the t.v. screen in front of him that is seated next to the video camera pointing straight in his direction. It just goes so completely against everything Buddhist, it’s obvious, but it’s meant to be obvious. It happens, people say one thing do another, do one thing say another that’s life .
But some of his other works may be system overload for me. I think the world of video and media and film are all coming at you so quickly that it can really become physically exhausting, even just one image if it’s moving fast enough, can increase ones heart rate, I like to take things a little more slowly. T.V. Buddha, Magnet T.V, the Piano Piece made as a tribute to Avant Garde composer John Cage, The Family of Robot, Video fish, all of these in particular have a certain sculptural quality that I am interested in. I just like three dimensional works so much I can’t help but be biased to the inter-dimensionality of these pieces.
Although I do appreciate Nam June Paiks work in it’s entirety (or at least what I know of it now) I would have to prepare myself for the invasion I would feel face to face with all those t.v. screens! Pyramid 11 however is amazing! I could never fathom the idea more or less the execution! The mastery he has achieved in video, the ability to create one nearly flawless image out of 150 monitors is pretty remarkable. Or to juxtapose two highly contrasting objects, the Buddha and television, again obvious, but yet never been done. That’s why it’s so great because it’s life and it’s never been done (well I guess I can’t say never that holds too much permanency). So that’s all for now on Nam June Paik and Charlotte Moorman.
Peace
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