Mao & Warhol
I have a Warhol's Mao (this one to be exact) printed on a pink T-shirt and wears it out a lot. Warhol fans love that shirt, and my conservative parents, well, thought I was strange (for my generation hardly had any Maoism influences) but somewhat patriotic (though they themselves don't think much of Mao).
I always thought Mao was a Romantic and liked his poetry quite a lot. In some way, I feel there is much in common between Mao and Warhol--need for fame (or become a pop icon, for that matter) and the desire to become a machine of some sort. Perhaps if Mao were born in a different time or place, he would be a celebrated poet (and a crazy one, nevertheless).
Just today, I went to see a small Warhol exhibit where they were showing his infamous Blow Job. It was rather long (around 30 min, I believe, although not nearly as long as some of Warhol's other films), so I only caught the beginning and the end. In all honesty, I try to be a non-pretentious audience and refrain from comments like "[Blow Job] epitomizes the highly complex position of gay invisibility and visibility". To me ( poorly educated in art appreciation), there are only two kinds of art: the ones I like and the ones I don't like. And I happen to like Warhol's Blow Job. It must have been a good one, for it lasted so long, though I cannot be entirely sure, for the receiver had a fairly neutral look on his face (and only a closeup of the face of the receiver is filmed). What did he think about? How did it feel to someone blow you while blowing a cigarette (yes, he took a smoke break)? Most importantly, was it GOOD? How GOOD? I suppose this is some sort of voyeurism (for Warhol and the audience) that attains sexual gratification vicariously through...through the facial expression of a sexually satisfied person. Ah, but it was good.
I always thought Mao was a Romantic and liked his poetry quite a lot. In some way, I feel there is much in common between Mao and Warhol--need for fame (or become a pop icon, for that matter) and the desire to become a machine of some sort. Perhaps if Mao were born in a different time or place, he would be a celebrated poet (and a crazy one, nevertheless).
Just today, I went to see a small Warhol exhibit where they were showing his infamous Blow Job. It was rather long (around 30 min, I believe, although not nearly as long as some of Warhol's other films), so I only caught the beginning and the end. In all honesty, I try to be a non-pretentious audience and refrain from comments like "[Blow Job] epitomizes the highly complex position of gay invisibility and visibility". To me ( poorly educated in art appreciation), there are only two kinds of art: the ones I like and the ones I don't like. And I happen to like Warhol's Blow Job. It must have been a good one, for it lasted so long, though I cannot be entirely sure, for the receiver had a fairly neutral look on his face (and only a closeup of the face of the receiver is filmed). What did he think about? How did it feel to someone blow you while blowing a cigarette (yes, he took a smoke break)? Most importantly, was it GOOD? How GOOD? I suppose this is some sort of voyeurism (for Warhol and the audience) that attains sexual gratification vicariously through...through the facial expression of a sexually satisfied person. Ah, but it was good.