62. THE ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

9/24/2010

The Andy Warhol Museum is the largest facility in the world dedicated to a single artist. Planning this trip around my cheapskate ways, there is a reason I’ve saved Pittsburgh for a Friday – the museum stays open until 10 on Fridays and admission is half-off after 5 pm. Unfortunately, some of my cheapness was undone because of a sporting event. Suddenly the $5 parking lots were $10 parking lots. We weren’t sure who was playing, but we saw a lot of people wearing Pittsburgh Pirates and Pittsburgh Steelers shirts. Laura concluded that the Pirates and the Steelers were playing each other that night. I tried to convince her how incredibly unlikely that was on so many levels, but she wouldn’t be put off.

Six floors of Warhol’s work are displayed in themed exhibits, with an apparent emphasis on his films. I guess that would be pretty cool to a Warhol fan since apparently most of these films are not available anywhere else. Aside from really being into soup, Warhol was also quite interested in male anatomy – so bear that in mind before you take YOUR infant children. (Not knowing anything about Warhol’s personal life before visiting, we were surprised since we perceived Warhol as the oxymoronic mainstream modern artist.)

I must mention that Daniel reached new heights of hilarity when we entered an installation piece called “Silver Clouds”, which is a bunch of giant helium-filled balloons blown around by fans. People are encouraged to play with them and Daniel needed little encouragement. Like most art museums you’re not allowed to take photos, but when the 18-year old Goth girl guarding us started texting her boyfriend we snapped a few shots anyway. We don’t think Andy would have minded too much.

Laura and I weren’t sure what to make of the museum. Only having a superficial awareness of Warhol’s most famous works before going to the museum, we were surprised at the evidence that he considered himself a devout Catholic in contrast to most of his actual lifestyle. We spent most of our trip home discussing his art (or even is it art?), was he a devout Catholic because he perceived himself to be? (Was he in many ways no different from many other religious people who struggle with vices, but just don’t have museums dedicated to them?) We discussed Warhol. We discussed his art. We discussed perception versus reality. (Isn’t that a huge question in pop art, anyway?) We’re still talking about it. So the museum made some sort of impact on us. We’re just not sure what.