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warholiana · 4 years

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The art world's first souperstar; This monumental biography of Andy Warhol is extremely fun - but fails to crack the enigma.

Daily Telegraph (London, England)

By Mick Brown

WARHOL: A LIFE AS ART by Blake Gopnik 976pp, Allen Lane

At the end of this monumental trawl through Andy Warhol's life and times, Blake Gopnik concludes that he has "overtaken Picasso as the most important and influential artist of the 20th century. Or at least the two of them share a spot on the top peak of Parnassus beside Michelangelo and Rembrandt and their fellow geniuses."

Warhol would have loved that. As a college student, Picasso was a favourite of his, and at the height of his pop art fame he made the rivalry explicit by wearing the Breton striped T-shirts Picasso was famous for - part tribute, part self-

promotion. Andy Warhol was the artist as brand, avant la lettre: as the title of this book suggests, his greatest creation was himself. So who was he exactly? Warhol's parents were immigrants from what is now Slovakia, who settled in the industrial nowhere land of Pittsburgh. His father was a labourer, the family poor.

Warhol was a sickly child who suffered from the shakes and chronic skin problems. His summers were spent lying in bed, listening to the radio with "cut-out paper dolls all over the spread and under the pillow". It was an upbringing he disowned as quickly as he could. When he arrived in New York in 1949, as an art-school graduate in search of work as an illustrator, he told a magazine editor who asked for a potted biography: "My life wouldn't fill a penny postcard."

The young Warhol was "very shy and cuddly, very much like a bunny", according to one friend, "an angel in the sky" according to another. He was also gay - a fact that, as Gopnik, an American art critic, sets out to demonstrate, would be crucial in shaping his "outsider" relationship to art and the milieu he moved in, and ultimately the milieu he created; crucial, too, in the way that public attitudes towards his work shifted from rejection to celebration.

In the late Forties, when two Pittsburgh judges had referred to homosexuals as "society's greatest menace" and police were drawing up lists of "known perverts", Warhol - then a window dresser in a Pittsburgh department store - favoured a pink corduroy suit, a tie dipped in paint and brightly coloured fingernails. Yet the notion of Warhol as "a feeble, androgynous waif ", says Gopnik, is "a mirage". As a young man, he lifted weights at the YMCA two or three times a week, and Lou Reed described him as being "like a demon, his strength is incredible" - at least until 1968, when an assassination attempt by a disturbed woman, Valerie Solanas, left him chronically debilitated.

Like Robert Mapplethorpe, he had an obsession with penises. Friends, acquaintances - total strangers - would be asked to drop their pants, according to one friend, and "Andy would make a drawing. That was it. And then he'd say, 'Thank you'." Sometimes "there'd be a little heart on them or tied with a little ribbon ..." An unrequited romantic, throughout his life he would fall in love with a succession of younger men, usually unhappily. But he seems to have had little enthusiasm for sexual relations. One partner, the photographer Carl Willers, recalls that he was "more passionate about food and eating".

It was a gay aesthetic, Gopnik argues, that informed what Warhol described as the "fairy style" curlicue illustrations of shoes with which he first made his name as an artist, and the camp taste for "lowly pop culture", which he would elevate to the realm of fine art. In characteristically faux-naif fashion, he traced the origins of his pop art to the time he spent working as a window dresser at Bonwits in New York, when he used comics and advertisements as a backdrop to his displays of dresses and handbags. "Then a gallery saw them and I just began taking windows and putting them in galleries."

This would lead to what Gopnik calls Warhol's "eureka moment - one of the greatest in the history of art", the Campbell soup can, and the notion that mass-produced commercial goods could be art - and, eventually, that art could be profitably mass-produced. His first Los Angeles exhibition in 1962 showed 32 soup cans, which were bought by the gallery owner Irving Blum for $1,000. In 1996, Blum sold them to Moma for $15million. "They might be worth half a billion now," Gopnik observes.

What Warhol was selling, as one friend put it, was "not so much art as milieu", a milieu "dripping with edge and irony". In 1964, he moved into a former hat factory in midtown Manhattan, where he produced the silk-screen prints of Marilyn, Elvis, electric chairs and suicide leaps, attended by a coterie of acolytes, and disciples - junkies, hustlers, transvestites and chronic narcissists, whom Warhol turned into his "superstars".

There was Ondine, "the Factory's favourite gay speed freak"; Warhol's principal muse, the bruised and beautiful heiress Edie Sedgwick, whose "charming incapacities" and decline into addiction and chaos Warhol chronicled with clinical indifference; and the flame-haired, honking-voiced Viva - "Warhol's Garbo", as the newspapers had it: a reference that had everything to do with her gaunt, porcelain features and nothing to do with reticence. Viva's "verbal diarrhoea", as Gopnik puts it, "left her no time for social niceties. Any thought that could cross her lips did."

Then there were the drag queens Jackie Curtis, Cindy Darling and Holly Woodlawn - a reflection of Warhol's fascination with gender. At college, for one self-portrait assignment, he shocked his class by depicting himself as a girl with Shirley Temple ringlets, explaining: "I always want to know what I would look like if I was a girl." Many years later, when asked what "famous person" he would most like to be, he replied "Christine Jorgensen" - America's first famous transsexual.

"Andy was like the Statue of Liberty," one friend tells Gopnik. "'Give me your tired, your hungry - your drag queens, your junkies.' He was the saint of misfits." But Warhol's friend, the critic and art curator Henry Geldzahler, put it more acutely when he described Warhol as "a voyeur-sadist" who needed "exhibitionist masochists in order to fulfil both halves of his destiny". Like a priest, Warhol could offer absolution for the perverse, but no promise of an afterlife. Most left his circle - or were ejected - feeling used, embittered and betrayed.

One comes to the conclusion that there was an emotional vacancy in Warhol. He didn't know how to feel. A lover, John Giorno, recalls watching the news of Kennedy's assassination unfold on television. "I started crying and Andy started crying. Hugging each other, weeping big fat tears and kissing. It was exhilarating, like when you get kicked in the head and see stars. Andy kept saying, 'I don't know what it means.'" But what did he believe? Like Bob Dylan, he deliberately cultivated the art of the put-on and concealment. Typical was this exchange with a journalist: "How close is pop art to 'Happenings'?" "I don't know." "What is pop art trying to say?" "I don't know."

When I interviewed Viva over lunch some years ago, she described how Warhol "would just want to gossip, like a woman would gossip basically - or his idea of what a woman would think gossip was. What Andy really liked to talk about was men's penises." (At this point a deathly silence fell over the crowded restaurant, all heads turning to hear what Viva would say next.) Henry Geldzahler wrote that Warhol "plays dumb just as his paintings do, but neither deceives us", adding that he was "incredibly analytical, intellectual, and perceptive". And, he might have added, incredibly shrewd.

In 1972, after Richard Nixon's historic visit to China, Warhol asked a friend, "Since fashion is art now and Chinese is in fashion, should I do some Mao portraits?" The idea spawned some 2,700 images, transforming a man who, as one critic pointed out, had "murdered about 60million Chinese and caused poverty and starvation in all China" into an icon.

But by then, Warhol had long since made the transition from underground artist to darling of the establishment, turning out portraits to order for Italian industrialists, wealthy socialites and the Shah of Iran, combining a Stakhanovite work ethic with manic socialising: a typical evening would take him from a Broadway opening to a fancy dinner, a rock star's birthday, and, always, Studio 54. "It's work," he explained.

Gopnik's rollicking book is a formidable achievement, but for all its dense accumulation of detail, scholarship and unabashed gossip, Warhol remains, as he doubtless would have wished, essentially, brilliantly, unknowable.

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novacabtaxi · 4 years

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Seeing Manhattan Without Uber Or Subway – GoNOMAD Travel

Exploring Lower and Mid-town Manhattan on Foot

By Supriya Pant

Put on a pair of walking shoes, carry some water, and just set out to discover the island of Manhattan, NYC.

My personal journey on foot started with the idea of taking the New York City’s subway system to reach any particular area and promising myself that once I get off, I would only get back with sore feet that are ready to collapse.

A quick disclaimer, I am skipping some usual suspects, like Central Park and China Town because a day in Central Park or China Town is a different theme altogether. To those who feel you have seen it all, I say walk again and discover Manhattan like never before.

NYC is made up of five boroughs, Manhattan is the most famous. You can start your exploration from any place, but I suggest have the area mapped out.

Day 1: Exploring Greenwich Village

My day one started at the west side of lower Manhattan, better known as Greenwich Village. O. Henry paid a memorable ode to West Greenwich village in the opening lines of his haunting short story ‘The Last Leaf’.

In a little district west of Washington Square, the streets have run crazy and broken themselves into small strips called “places.” These “places” make strange angles and curves. One street crosses itself a time or two.

Then the Village was used to house struggling artists and musicians. The famous Hotel Albert here hosted everyone from Walt Whitman to Andy Warhol.

In the ’90s it became popular as the dwelling of the sitcom Friends. Though the show was shot in LA, the characters lived here. You can spot plenty of the famous fire exits everywhere in the Village area and the exterior shot of the building shown in the show can be found in 90 Bedford Street.

Chess in the Park

There are plenty of other things to do here like just sit around Washington Square Park. The impressive Washington Square Arch presides over a large fountain and a dazzling array of street performers.

Checkmate a buddy on the north-west corner of the park with its built-in chess tables or watch some furry friends play catch in the dog park.

The area around Washington Square Park also houses the famous New York University, to add to its vibrant young exuberance.

If you get hungry MacDougal Street is around the corner and makes global food fest a single street affair.

You can hop skip jump between the Ethiopian Injera, Vietnamese Pho, and Spanish Tapas. MacDougal Street is also home to The Comedy Cellar, which hosts both amateur and famous comedians in the New York stand-up scene.

For a change, try skipping Starbucks for a quaint Greenwich Village cafe. There are Reggio and Dante among others. You get cozy wooden interiors and a cup of old-fashioned cappuccino. If you want something stronger to drink, then have plenty of options for booze too.

Reggio’s 1902 Coffeemaker

Not taking sides, but my personal favorite is Reggio, with walls adorned with Italian renaissance paintings and the giant coffee machine from 1902. Take a book along or get a window seat and watch the buzzing street outside.

The village has taken center stage in many historic movements. If you decide to walk ahead there is Christopher Street. It has Christopher park with the famous George Segal sculpture honoring the gay rights movement and commemorating the events of the Stone Wall Inn that stands opposite the park.

The village has introduced the world to Beatniks and Bohemians. Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and John Lennon have called it home at different times. Every street here has a hidden corner deeply drenched in rich history and trust me walking around is the only way to sink into them.

Day 2: Explore-Midtown Manhattan

This area is the heart of Manhattan’s activity. In the heart of it is Times Square. Placed at 42nd and Broadway, Times Square is filled with a dazzling display of billboards, lights, and Broadway musicals.

It’s always brimming with tourists, buzzing with activity. Fun fact, Times Square got its name when the New York Times moved here in 1904. Before that, the area was known as Longacre Square. The already crowded hub gets almost 2 million people when the ball-drop happens, ringing in the New Year.

Through the years, it has served as a popular backdrop to many celebrated pieces of art from the iconic V-J Day kiss photograph to the masterful ‘Birdman’. So, it is likely at first look it gives a vibe of “been here” but if you can be a little patient, sit on the red bleacher stairs at northern Duffy Square and soak in the mood, it will turn up as a worthy pit-stop.

Watch a Broadway Show

You can watch a Broadway musical or take a five to six-minute walk to Bryant Park. Adjacent to the New York Public library this park was a no-go area in 1970s, due to its notorious association with drugs and drug dealers. The park got restored to its current status due to the efforts of prominent and common New Yorkers. Google even installed free Wi-Fi.

It’s now an all-weather park, with Empire State watching over it. I especially love it in winter. The Winter Village kiosks serve everything from hot chocolates to hand-knitted mittens. Then there is the ice-skating rink and if you are really lucky you even get to witness the frozen Bryant Park fountain in all its glory.

Also walk over next door to the New York Public Library, to witness its magnificent ceilings and reading rooms and also drop by at the children’s section in the basement to see the original Christopher Robin’s toys that made the world of hundred-acre wood.

Skating at the Rock

A little ahead in the walk is the Rockefeller Center with its famous Ice-skating rink and the even more famous Christmas tree. Even on a non-wintery day, its observatory deck offers a great view of Manhattan or you can just enjoy walking around and marvel at the Art Deco construction that includes the famous Radio City buildings.

A short distance away is the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). On Fridays, they even offer free tickets between 4 and 8 pm. It’s a great place to get absorbed in Manet, Monet, and Picasso. It houses some of the world’s most famous artworks including Van Gogh’s Starry Nights and Monet’s Waterlilies among others. MoMA’s modern and pop art collection includes the not-to-be-missed works of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.

If the “Campbell’s soup cans” manage to stimulate your hunger, it is time to head out for Halal guys on 53rd street. Their killer red sauce on chicken over rice is well worth the long queue and wait. Cart food is another delight in the gastronomical landscape of New York City.

Even if you skip the Halal guys, head over to any of the zillion carts around the city and get yourself anything from gyro to falafel with a healthy dose of red and white sauce. You haven’t tasted New York if you haven’t tasted its cart food.

A good way to end this midtown marathon would be to head to Grand Central Station. You wi

ll need to backtrack a few steps from MoMA but Grand Central in just fifteen minutes away. Apart from being a transport hub, the station is also a shopping and dining hub. It has a cathedral-like exterior and is most famous for the astronomical ceiling in its main concourse.

Look out for the average commuters in a hurry while being the star gazing tourist! Experts may doubt the accuracy of the constellations, but this backward universe and the four-faced opal grand clock is definitely worth a watch. It’s a famous place to meet!

Day 3: Explore-Wall Street and the Financial District

At the southern end of NYC, the New York Subway greets you with Oculus. If Grand Center takes you into the grandeur of the past, Oculus is futuristic spaceship-like. During rush hours you can spot all the banking stereotypes here. Suited men and women, juggling mobile phones along with morning coffee after all Oculus belong to the busiest business district of all, Wall Street.

You can get into the observatory of one world trade center and enjoy the birds-eye view of Hudson and Jersey City skyline. The elevator to the observatory also plays an interesting graphic history of the city as it zooms you into its top floors.

Just south of the center you will be in the sobering presence of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.

From here you can charge through streets and reach the charging bull statue in about 15 minutes. You will walk past imposing building of the wall street area, cross Trinity church, and then might have to battle a queue of selfie stick holders before you get your turn with the bull.

At a short distance from the charging bull, you will reach the southern tip of Manhattan. It’s the sight of the historic Battery Park.

There is much to be appreciated here if you are history buff, but other than that it also offers a path along the Hudson to stroll, bike, or run and a stunning view of the freedom tower and Statue of liberty. Ticketed ferries are available for Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty from here.

Alternatively, a little ahead you can take a free ride on the Staten Island Ferry at Whitehall Street and feel the Hudson breeze as you experience sailing across the majestic lady liberty.

If you are still up for a longish walk after the ferry ride, the Brooklyn Bridge is around forty minutes away. In 1884, 21 elephants and 17 camels had to walk across it to prove to the public that the suspension bridge was steady.

Today we have no such problems as both pedestrians and bikers share busy narrow lanes across it. This great feat of engineering is always a very busy tourist attraction.

Ideally, end this day with a walk fifteen minutes away to South Street Seaport. Did I mention it’s one of the oldest and most picturesque neighborhoods of Manhattan?

Take a sneak peek at the South Street Seaport Museum, stop for a drink at the cobbler stone street, or just feel the ocean from the pier and watch the sun go down.

All this my friend is just Manhattan! The city of endless possibilities never disappoints steady feet. So, ladies and gentlemen next time you are in the Big Apple, skip the cab, and don’t forget those sneakers.

from TAXI NEAR ME https://taxi.nearme.host/seeing-manhattan-without-uber-or-subway-gonomad-travel/

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