ANDY WARHOL: From A to B and Back Again, Exhibit at SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA

Andy Warhol, Self Portrait, at SFMOMA exhibit Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again

At the end of August, when I was in Oakland, I took the BART to San Francisco to see the fabulous Andy Warhol retrospective at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again. (The title of the exhibit is taken from Andy Warhol's book, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, 1975.) The show ended September 2nd but is  now at the Art Institute of Chicago where it opened on October 20th. (Previously, the show was at the Whitney Museum in New York.) 

Portraits of Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe

The exhibit encompasses Andy Warhol’s career from his growing up years in Pittsburgh and early career in New York in the fashion industry, to his ground breaking conversion of soup cans and Brillo boxes to pop art, to portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennedy, and much, much more.

Painting of S and H Green Stamps, created by making a stamp from a rubber eraser.

His painting of S and H green stamps (apparently inspired by helping his mother paste them into books) brought back similar memories of mine, filling books with stamps my family got at grocery stores and gas stations and then turning them in to redeem prizes. In the same room at the museum a pile of Brillo boxes and a diagram of dance steps to do the Lindy were displayed.

A pair of diagrams showing the pattern of foot-steps (one for the man, one for the woman) doing the Lindy, a popular dance originating in the 1920s

The exhibit was so big that at MOMA in San Francisco it took up space on three floors (plus one more if you count the examples of his black and white photographs displayed on the third floor of the museum.)

Mylar silver cloud pillows. Recreation of 1966 exhibit of helium filled Mylar balloons at the Castelli Gallery.

In one room, giant silver balloons formed a popular interactive exhibit. Visitors, especially children, enjoyed batting the cloud-like pillows into the air, creating a constantly changing 3-D art piece.

Flower paintings and cow wallpaper

The variety of Andy Warhol's creativity is astounding, ranging from painting and pop-art, to video, television, interactive and performance pieces, to magazines (Interview) and advertising.

The large Rorschah painting was inspired by the "ink blot test" created by Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach.  Warhol folded the canvas in half vertically to make a mirror image of the design.

Although I had long been aware of Andy Warhol’s soup cans and extravagant life style during the 1970s in New York, I never appreciated the breadth and brilliance of his creativity until I saw the exhibit of his work at SFMOMA.

A few of Andy Warhol's commissioned portraits.

Among my favorites were his portraits, displaying both his painterly style as well his impeccable sense of design and ability to capture the essence of his subject. From 1967 to 1987, Warhol made hundreds of commissioned portraits, typically using a combination of Polaroid photography, screen prints, and paint. One room at SFMOMA is dedicated to these portraits.

The giant image of Mao was created by Andy Warhol in 1972. (Acrylic paint, silkscreen ink, pencil on linen.)

To appreciate the giant painting of Mao Tse Tung one has to stand on the other side of the room. It is mounted on a recreation of the Mao wallpaper that was on the walls of Andy Warhol's studio.

Wilhelmina Ross

Andy Warhol often painted the same subject over and over, as in the case of Wilhelmina Ross. He painted her 73 times, originally as part of a commission by an Italian art dealer in 1974 for a series of 105 portraits of drag queens.

A matchbook with "Drink Coca-Cola" on its cover, has been blown up to giant size in this painting.

But what most people will remember about Andy Warhol is his elevation of ordinary objects, such as a bottle or glass of Coca-Cola, to the status of art, making us think twice about the role these objects play in our lives and our culture.

CHICAGO: Marilyn, Millennium Park, and the Art Institute—A Stroll Down Michigan Avenue

One tower of the Crown Fountain, Millennium Park

Recently, I was in Chicago for a conference and had an hour or so on the last afternoon to stroll down Michigan Avenue from my hotel on Wacker Drive to Millennium Park and the Chicago Art Institute about a half-mile away.

25-foot Marilyn Monroe Statue

My first stop was across the bridge over Chicago River.  I wanted to take a closer look at the giant Marilyn Monroe statue mounted in the plaza near the Chicago Tribune building on Chicago’s Magnificent mile.  Sculpted in her iconic pose with skirts flying, she dwarfed the people below.  I didn’t realize that this was a last chance to see the statue in Chicago.  The 25-foot-tall statue of the actress is slated to leave its spot along Michigan Avenue on May 7th and go to Palms Springs, California. The bronze and stainless steel sculpture, created by artist Seward Johnson, depicts Monroe in her famous pose from the film “The Seven Year Itch.” In the film, a draft catches Monroe’s dress as she passes over a subway grate.  Apparently, as soon as the sculpture was unveiled last July, people began positioning themselves under the movie star’s dress to catch a subway-level view and snap pictures.

Every Tree Counts!

I then turned back across the river and headed south past several blocks of shops and restaurants before arriving at Millennium Park.  It was spring, and rows of blooming tulips lined planters along the way.  It also sprinkled off and on so I was glad I had my raincoat. The first thing I noticed when I got to the park, besides the fact that it was an island of green amidst neighboring skyscrapers, was that the trees all had large green tags tied around their trunks, informing us of their monetary value to the community. In celebration of Arbor Day in 2011, the Morton Arboretum tagged hundreds of trees in Illinois with the dollar amount each tree will give back to the community in environmental and socio-economic benefits over the next 15 years. Trees absorb air pollutants, including ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide, through the leaves and intercept particulate matter like dust, ash and smoke. They also lower air temperature, reducing the production of ozone. 

Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park

Peeking through the trees at the back of the park I could see what looked like large metallic sails silhouetted against the sky.  As I walked closer I saw that they formed the roof of an outdoor amphitheater. Designed by Frank Gehry, the Jay Pritzker Pavilion is said to be the most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of its kind in the United States.  It was empty on a weekday afternoon, but I could imagine it filled with people.

Reflected in the Cloud Sculpture

Walking back toward the street I came upon an elevated plaza in the center of the park on which a shiny giant amoeba shaped structure sat, reflecting the surrounding skyline and all the passersby, including me.  The curved surface made it function like a huge fun-house mirror.  The cloud sculpture was designed by artist Anish Kapoor as an interactive piece and it was impossible to not be drawn to it and try to take a picture of myself reflected on its surface.

Caroline in Millennium Park

Every turn revealed a new sculptural surprise.  In a small garden plaza stood three open ball shaped structures in blue, yellow, and white created by Mexican artist Yvonne Domenge. Below the garden was the Crown Fountain, two 50-foot glass block towers of flowing water that project video images of 1,000 different Chicagians onto their surfaces.  Created by artist Jaume Plensa the facing images appear to look at one another and interact as their expressions subtly change and then disappear, or abruptly squirt water out of their mouths, before morphing into a new face. Children were having fun splashing in the water that collected at the base of the towers.

Art Institute of Chicago

Finally, I arrived at the Art Institute with its familiar lions flanking the entrance. I have fond memories of visits to the Art Institute when I came to Chicago as child with my family on visits to my grandmother and later when I was in college in Iowa and rode to Chicago on the train.  I didn’t have time to see any of the current exhibits on this trip, but browsed in the wonderful museum gift shop.  I’ll have to return to Chicago on a longer trip and do all the things that I missed this time.