Up close and personal with Warhol at the Wex
By Pete McGinty, Vice President, Marketing
Andy Warhol Self-Portrait, 1986
My in-laws, Ed and Bonnie, recently flew in to Columbus from their home in Long Island. They’ve grown to love Columbus, and each time they’re here my wife and I expose them to something new.
This visit, we went to the Wexner Center for the Arts to see Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms . While there, we ran into Wexner’s director, Sherri Geldin . Seeing Sherri was an unexpected treat and she shared extra background on Warhol that even this expansive exhibit couldn’t delve into, including Warhol’s fascination with Truman Capote .
One cannot help but be overwhelmed by such an intimate look inside this complex artist. Searching for his own identity, Warhol utilizes a wide range of media in his expression of social, political and cultural upheaval. I felt like a voyeur watching his home movies, reading his personal scribblings and viewing his sketches and photos. It’s as though Andy touches your shoulder and says, “Come with me, I’ll show you the good stuff.”
As Ed and Bonnie went through the exhibit, their eyes grew big at the site of the iconic Campbell Soup art, their faces wrinkled in amusement while reading Warhol’s writings, and they smiled warmly at the gentle sound of Warhol’s voice in his movies.
Lifetime New Yorkers, Ed and Bonnie are never shy about expressing their opinions. They wouldn’t rave about something unless they were truly moved by it, and they raved about Other Voices, Other Rooms . Their reaction to the exhibit was as expansive as the exhibit itself.
“He has many people in his head,” Bonnie said, and Sherri smiled and agreed. Bonnie remarked on how many times she had seen Warhol’s work in galleries in New York, but had never seen a collection like this one (Columbus is the only U.S. stop on this international tour).
Bonnie was nearly moved to tears imagining what Warhol might think if he knew how close to him we had become:
And I was reminded to never take Columbus treasures like the Wex for granted.
Tags: arts, Ohio State, Warhol, Wexner
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Great exhibit. And I’ve still only managed to take in about 30% of it…
There’s just SO MUCH.
A lot of what, at times, simply seemed like obsessive chronicling of his life (some of the films) reminded me a lot of what, at times, simply seems like obsessive chronicling of peoples’ lives today with social media.
E.g., back when people were still using twitter to literally answer the question “what are you doing’?
(No doubt Andy would be on twitter (and I’d probably be following him).)
Thankfully, though, the value of social media, in general, and twitter, in particular — at least for me — has grown wildly beyond the possibility of simply knowing when so and so might be, oh, I don’t know, dropping a deuce ;)
Anyhow, I knew he did LP covers, but for some reason I didn’t know he did Sticky Fingers — possibly one of the best albums, ever — and realizing that was worth the visit alone. Plus I liked the early cable stuff.
Worth a couple visits.
December 5th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Thanks for the cool review! I’m so psyched that the Wex is showing such an exclusive show. Next payday I’m hoping to make a visit. I’m a huge fan of his art.
December 5th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
This Sunday, Dec. 7th the Warhol Exhibit is FREE from 1-5 p.m.! More information is available at http://www.experiencecolumbus.com/event-detail.cfm?id=18274