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| - When planning our trip to Pittsburgh, I was particularly excited to visit the Andy Warhol Museum. While I'm as familiar as the rest of the world with his iconic screen prints of soup cans and superstars, I knew little else of his work. Not to mention everything I knew about his unusual life came from "Factory Girl"...
The museum filled in all the blanks and then some. I didn't know Warhol had produced a few talk-show/magazine-esque television series, but a room full of monitors playing episodes fascinated. I didn't know he released films, but furniture from his factory and used as props on set told his film-making story. I didn't know anything of the transsexual Candy Darling, but a room full of her Warhol-snapped portraits, promotional stills, and correspondence brought her to life. I didn't know Warhol was considered one of the first artists to experiment with video art, but screen after screen of drag queens eating bananas and topless women sharing dinner recipes entranced.
Aside from those fabulous paintings of Campbell's cans and celebrities, my absolute favorite "piece" had to be "Silver Clouds": a room full of rectangular silver mylar balloons, buoyed by air currents from fans in the ceiling, an installation Warhol designed for a 1966 gallery show. Guests are encouraged to interact with the balloons as they glide and float through the small space. I felt like a little kid again, giggling as these cushions bumped my arms and legs, pushing them up and out. I kept envisioning Charlie Bucket and Grampa after consuming Fizzy Lifting Drinks in Wonka's factory.
A few floors are dedicated to temporary exhibits, one on masculinity in sports, another on God and religion, and a Yoko Ono installation titled "My Mommy Is Beautiful" on our visit.
Shocking, mundane, provocative, commonplace -- the art here runs the gamut. The Andy Warhol Museum is a fascinating homage to a fascinating man and a fascinating subculture, and worth a few hours of your time.
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