La nota ...
Let's talk about Warhol & Fashion. First: NOTES!
The most interesting things happen over time and sometimes you have to look at something for a long time to see if it makes sense."
On Andy Warhol – From A to B and Back Again (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 12, 2018–March 31, 2019). [Whitney]
The Main Ideas
1. OVER TIME: although Warhol may not have intended the ideas we are having today be derived from his work, the cultural percolation creates a new understanding and relatability. Does original intention matter?
2. WARHOL, WARHOLIAN, CAMP: living in a culture of 'show' and consumption, codifying yourself as they did through creating his persona. No longer Warhola.
3. THE BODY IS PRODUCED THROUGH A NARRATIVE. A story which is completely scripted yet completely personal. Creating your persona.
Today, we are living in a culture of display and consumption. The personal and public are inseperable
Self Accommodation
WARHOLISM" The attempt to turn over all human activity, no matter how sacred, to the market place. (Neoliberalism)
COLD
MUTE
STATIC
Warholism negates:
an inner life,
a sense of vocation,
distrust in fame,
personal relationship with God/nature that the image partakes in but does not surplice. Free markets and cynicism.
a story entirely scripted and absolutely personal
Tracy Emin's "I used to have such a good imagination"
turn travesties of sexual life into everyday banalities
NEED TO UNPACK
IN 2018 - "WE ARE LIVING IN A WARHOL MOMENT INSIDE A WARHOL MOMENT INSIDE A WARHOL MOMENT - IN A COUNTRY RUN BY THE MOST WARHOLIAN PRESIDENT WE HAVE EVER HAD
sex is everywhere BUT there.
Calvin Klien: RAF SIMMONS
-
Sept 2017 Simmons appropriates Warhol – “Making a soup of American identity” – Vanessa Friedman NYT
-
Access to Warhol 3 years: flower paintings, car crash & electric chair
-
Andy = democratic, Calvin = democratization
-
Assumption = designer exploiting artist for commerce
///
__> Layer Warhol & let it perculate through the public’s consciousness.
-à A Coke is a coke – no matter how much you pay for it!
Reactions – everything needs to look good on a tiny screen – this doesn’t always match reality.
CALVIN KLEIN 205W39NYC Spring 2018 Ready to Wear
Green Coca-Cola Bottles, Andy Warhol, 1962 Whitney
Installation view of Andy Warhol – From A to B and Back Again.From left to right: Silver Marlon, 1963; Triple Elvis [Ferus Type], 1963; Single Elvis [Ferus Type], 1963; Large Sleep, 1965; Marilyn Diptych, 1962. Photograph by Ron Amstutz. © 2018 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Elsa Schiaparelli believed fashion designers should be inspired by the political climate around them. Raf Simmons, in September 2017, sent his collection down the runway with iconic American imagery – from Warhol. It was not appropriation for the sake of injecting art, it was actually very timely. Vanessa Friedman, of the New York Times, summarizes it perfectly – “we are living in a Warhol moment inside of a Warhol moment inside a Warhol moment – in a country run by the most Warholian president we’ve ever had.” Our culture has become of one Andy Warhol either created or predicted – I’m not sure.
Everything we do is for show or consumption. We tell the story of our best self on social media & hope our friends (and strangers) will buy the face we are cool, smart, someone they should want to be around, and be jealous of. The looking glad of the tiny screen skews everything we do. (In contrast to Andy’s big silver screen) even designers are creating keeping in mind that their collections need to look good on a small screen – where depth, detail, and meaning becomes flat as the silk screen images of Warhol.
Artifice has peculated into every area of our culture. We create our bodies through a narrative. Our physical bodies, yes, but also our presence in other people’s lives through their perception of us & who they think we are. “A story which is completely scripted, yet completely personal?”
The culture of display of ourselves for the consumption of others becomes inseparable from our spirit. It also becomes campy-drag.
We become so exaggerated. For fashion, this is opportunity to do something elaborate, but is it also a curse? To do something for the sake of show without passion? To do something because it’s a moment to be capitalized on the little screen? Last thought – is there actually a cost for democratizing everything and making it accessible to all? Do creatives water down everything to make it acceptable for everyone? Or does the work become better because of the perspectives of many? Is a coke still a coke – no matter what ?
Installation view of Andy Warhol – From A to B and Back Again. From left to right: Wigs, 1961; Where Is Your Rupture? [1], 1961; Before and After [4], 1962. Photograph by Ron Amstutz. © 2018 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York