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By
Clarke Thomas
"Warhol was not an intellectual but he was a genius".
This seemingly contradictory statement was made by Tom Sokolowski in a June
11th lecture at the Michael Berger Gallery in Pittsburgh during an exhibition
and sale of screenprints by Andy Warhol.
Sokolowski, Executive Director of the Andy Warhol Museum in
Pittsburgh and a leading Warhol expert, also pointed out that in many ways
Warhol was also a traditionalist. As in medieval tapestries or WPA murals,
the artist chose the most direct means to speak to the public.
Perhaps what is most important about Warhol was that he understood
that image overload through advertising and television defined his times.
So, he borrowed the idea and the images repeating "Marilyns," "Maos,"
"Marx Brothers," "Sunsets," etc., making multiple variations
on a theme, experimenting with color.
Working in the 1950’s he was of course aware of
Abstract Expressionism but he chose to ignore it, concentrating on realistic
images. He individualized the prints. Beginning with photos (which he did
not take he bought) he made silkscreen prints in large editions but individualizing
each by changing the colors of the screens or by the addition of hand coloring
after the printing was completed.
For Warhol beauty was the harmonious relationship of the parts;
he could say unabashedly: "It’s pretty, isn’t it?" Indeed,
referring to the "Sunsets" in the exhibition, Sokolowski pointed
out that Warhol succeeded in making abstracts "that mean something."
At this point Sokolowski turned the discussion in quite a different
direction, declaring that Warhol understood that art is artifice. In that
sense, the Christmas tree and the Menorah are examples of
artifice, in that they, mere objects of wood or metal, stand for so much more
in the hearts and minds of people. A particularly superb example of artifice
is Abraham Lincoln’s "four score and seven years ago. How much more
it means than a straightforward, realistic Eighty-seven years ago!
Sokolowski concluded his presentation by referring to "Blackglama",
the screenprint of songstress Judy Garland, pointing out that no one least
of all Judy herself wanted to remember that "Garland was a drunk with
teeth falling out and bad skin." Warhol always chose to portray
the artifice that masked the reality: the fur jacket, lipstick, jewelry and
the dramatic spotlight that tells you she’s "a star."
Clarke Thomas is a senior editor (retired) of the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette, whose career as an editorial writer included commenting upon
the arts.
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