Warhol Museum
This afternoon's entertainment was a visit to the Warhol Museum. The amusement started in the parking garage: the floors are not just numbered. Each floor is also associated with a Warhol work. It's much easier to remember that you're on the Grace Jones floor than the third floor. Other floors included Andy as Uncle Sam, a Brillo Pad box, and portraits of Bill Murray and Grace Jones.
Once in the museum, the head games begin immediately. There are a series of portraits arranged in two long rows. The card listing the details is arranged in two columns. The problem is one of order. Rather than display the names in two long rows, or even transposed into the two columns, the sign lists the portraits in reading order. The usability evangelist in me cried out.
We were encouraged to start on the top floor and work our way down. This was an excellent suggestion, as the top floor is currently housing a John Waters exhibit. The only Waters I've experienced was Pink Flamingos, which didn't exactly whet my appetite for more, impressive though it was. The humor in his other work, though had me doubled over with laughter. There were collections of stills captured from films and television that told entirely new stories. Nothing can compare with the sight of the literally-titled "Twelve Assholes and a Dirty Foot".
The next floor down was an exhibition of Pittsburgh artists. To my immense chagrin, I'm having trouble finding the names of any of the represented artists, as some of the works were quite good. Only two work titles stuck in my mind. "Pendulum" is a clever video piece showing several periodic movements, with at least three typically superimposed. One looked like a metronome, but it turned out to be a dog's wagging tail. A man on a riding mower goes back and forth, turning off the edges of the screen. The other memorable name was Gary Zack's "Hip Hop Hiccups", a 109"-tall freestanding sculpture that looked like a heat sink for cooling a bamboo pole.
I didn't laugh quite as much when we got into the Warhol section of the museum, but it was dazzling. The infamous soup cans were displayed on a backdrop of cow wallpaper. The paper, Elsie the cow in neon pink surrounded by neon yellow, was amazing. In a book, I noticed that Warhol had also made Mao wallpaper. Did he intend the two to be perceived as a pun?
The same floor included a room containing Silver Clouds. These were giant, pillow-shaped balloons inflated with something slightly lighter than air. Fans kept them moving, often blowing them close to the floor. Around the corner was a collection of boxes. Warhol had sent the cardboard shipping boxes of supermarket standards like Heinz ketchup and Brillo pads and had them made into silkscreens. The assembly-line printing of these boxes was the origin of the name "The Factory".
There was one selection from the "Oxidation" series. I was admiring the textures when I noticed something looking like green scratches. When I saw the materials listing, I had to laugh: acrylic and urine on canvas. Leave it to him to make a piss painting. Warhol may not have cared much about the specifics of the chemistry, but the combination of the acids and the metals produced excellent results.
The parking garage utilized another trick I hadn't seen in ages: pay in the lobby, use the receipt to get the car out. The technology has advanced somewhat . . . they have kiosks for paying and automatic gates into which to place the receipt. We noticed that the kiosks were out of order. The security guard said "You know what that means? Free parking!" "Really?" "No!" He gestured to a previously-hidden booth with an attendant. We all enjoyed a good laugh at that one. The guard bragged that he'd fooled just about everyone with that.
Once in the museum, the head games begin immediately. There are a series of portraits arranged in two long rows. The card listing the details is arranged in two columns. The problem is one of order. Rather than display the names in two long rows, or even transposed into the two columns, the sign lists the portraits in reading order. The usability evangelist in me cried out.
We were encouraged to start on the top floor and work our way down. This was an excellent suggestion, as the top floor is currently housing a John Waters exhibit. The only Waters I've experienced was Pink Flamingos, which didn't exactly whet my appetite for more, impressive though it was. The humor in his other work, though had me doubled over with laughter. There were collections of stills captured from films and television that told entirely new stories. Nothing can compare with the sight of the literally-titled "Twelve Assholes and a Dirty Foot".
The next floor down was an exhibition of Pittsburgh artists. To my immense chagrin, I'm having trouble finding the names of any of the represented artists, as some of the works were quite good. Only two work titles stuck in my mind. "Pendulum" is a clever video piece showing several periodic movements, with at least three typically superimposed. One looked like a metronome, but it turned out to be a dog's wagging tail. A man on a riding mower goes back and forth, turning off the edges of the screen. The other memorable name was Gary Zack's "Hip Hop Hiccups", a 109"-tall freestanding sculpture that looked like a heat sink for cooling a bamboo pole.
I didn't laugh quite as much when we got into the Warhol section of the museum, but it was dazzling. The infamous soup cans were displayed on a backdrop of cow wallpaper. The paper, Elsie the cow in neon pink surrounded by neon yellow, was amazing. In a book, I noticed that Warhol had also made Mao wallpaper. Did he intend the two to be perceived as a pun?
The same floor included a room containing Silver Clouds. These were giant, pillow-shaped balloons inflated with something slightly lighter than air. Fans kept them moving, often blowing them close to the floor. Around the corner was a collection of boxes. Warhol had sent the cardboard shipping boxes of supermarket standards like Heinz ketchup and Brillo pads and had them made into silkscreens. The assembly-line printing of these boxes was the origin of the name "The Factory".
There was one selection from the "Oxidation" series. I was admiring the textures when I noticed something looking like green scratches. When I saw the materials listing, I had to laugh: acrylic and urine on canvas. Leave it to him to make a piss painting. Warhol may not have cared much about the specifics of the chemistry, but the combination of the acids and the metals produced excellent results.
The parking garage utilized another trick I hadn't seen in ages: pay in the lobby, use the receipt to get the car out. The technology has advanced somewhat . . . they have kiosks for paying and automatic gates into which to place the receipt. We noticed that the kiosks were out of order. The security guard said "You know what that means? Free parking!" "Really?" "No!" He gestured to a previously-hidden booth with an attendant. We all enjoyed a good laugh at that one. The guard bragged that he'd fooled just about everyone with that.