| rev:text
| - Ah, the Warhol. This is definitely a must-see for locals and travelers alike, even if it's not my favorite place in the city. It took a while for this museum to grow on me, admittedly, and I still don't LOVE it, so I totally get why some people aren't into it.
Fair warning, I am docking a few stars for this review (and maybe the Warhol will earn them back in the future) because of the museum's current condition and lack of useful introductory exhibit. Currently parts of the lobby are blocked off and under construction. Not only does this detract from the amount of space there is for the public to use, creating human traffic jams, it totally removes an important part of the Warhol museum visit. It used to be that if you walked in and, say, were not a Warhol expert and wanted to get to know the man before you went and saw his art - so, say, if you were anything like me when you first walked in here - you could walk into this great room off of the lobby that was a super informative timeline of Warhol's life. Where he was born, facts about his mother, what influenced his ideas of pop culture, when he opened his famous factory, when he was shot, up to the day he died - all of it was documented in this really, really fantastic and colorful room, and that single room really enhanced my experience in the rest of the museum during my first visit. That room is currently shut off to the public and I do not know what will replace it - but if the replacement is not a guide to Warhol, then I feel truly sorry for future visitors coming in who will not have that great introduction.
The rest of the museum is fascinating, yes, but for me at least is always a quick visit. The museum is set up in an interesting manner: begin on the 7th floor at the top and work your way back down. Unfortunately, there isn't usually a whole lot of rhyme or reason in terms of what you'll see in what order as you go (and without that introductory room there is nothing to orient you in the history and mindset of Warhol you as you go). The top floor tends to be the most temporary stuff - a short exhibit, a traveling show - and one floor is dedicated to Warhol's TV shorts and movies, but really, the organization and display of the artwork is kind of up in the air beyond those basics. Some of the exhibits on the other floors are really, really cool (the silver cloud bit is wonderfully fun to walk through), and the traveling comic artwork show they had years back was utterly wonderful - but usually the artwork, while I recognize it as important and iconic, is just...too odd for my taste. Or outright disturbing; right now an entire floor is decorated with colored prints of Warhol's famous electric chair photo, and just seeing it gives me chills and makes me need to turn away. Yes, I understand the history of the photo and the importance of it and can appreciate that I'm probably supposed to have that kind of reaction - that doesn't mean I need to see an entire hallway of colored prints of the disturbing thing!
I'm being slightly unfair considering one floor was great fun during my last visit; that floor was displaying some of Warhol's personal belongings and a few of his more colorful pieces. It really must just be my personal taste. For me, the artwork is interesting, but the best part of the museum is seeing actual photographs of Warhol, reading about his life, and reading his quotes on the walls. I'm the kind of person that just likes the man more than the art.
Now, all of my complaining and criticisms aside I do admire the Warhol Museum for what it's doing and it's preservation and display of such important work. Speaking of important work: if you can see a Time Capsule opening, do it! (If you don't know what I'm talking about, please go Google it - it's a fascinating project and it's a long story, too long for a review.) The time capsules are a bit of a finicky project at the Warhol because the entire Time Capsule operation is grant funded; phase one is coming to an end soon and funding for the project will end until a new grant is earned, so who knows what will happen next. Hopefully the time capsules are incorporated into the displays more and more, because they're even more fascinating than some of the artwork! The two openings I went too were great fun and, honestly, far more enjoyable than walking through the rest of the museum.
So yes, there's definitely a lot here to enjoy, and the staff are also really nice and will answer your questions if you talk to them. Do visit at least once. Heck, take the time to eat the Cafe - the food is pricey but fantastic and fresh. Just know that the museum and some of the artwork may not be your cup of tea - it happens!
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)