A PROBING PEEK INTO MIRROR OF WARHOL.Byline: Wes Bausmith Orange County Register Title: ``Unseen Warhol'' Author: John O'Connor John O'Connor can refer to a number of people:
Data: 208 pages, Rizzoli International Publications, distributed by St. Martin's St. Martin's or St. Martins may refer to:
Our rating: Four Stars Almost 10 years after his death, it's as if Andy Warhol Noun 1. Andy Warhol - United States artist who was a leader of the Pop Art movement (1930-1987) Warhol never left the building. How can we miss someone so much if he won't go away? There have been retrospectives of his work, endless books, movies, even a celebrity auction of the late, great artist's collected effects. This year alone, there have been three films featuring the Prince of Pop Art - ``Nico/Icon,'' ``I Shot Andy Warhol'' and ``Basquiat.'' Now, two of Warhol's former associates, John O'Connor and Benjamin Liu, have put together a book of 20 interviews and more than 70 reproductions of his private work. ``Unseen Warhol'' casts a warm glow on the pallid pal·lid adj. 1. Having an abnormally pale or wan complexion: the pallid face of the invalid. 2. Lacking intensity of color or luminousness. 3. face of this extraordinary man and artist, illuminating us in the process. O'Connor worked as advertising art director for Interview magazine in the 1980s, and Liu was a personal assistant to Warhol during the same period. In the best tradition of Interview, founded by Warhol in the 1970s, ``Unseen Warhol'' lets us listen while the subjects do the talking. By allowing free rein and not sticking to much of a script, O'Connor, Liu and their subjects offer much more than nostalgia for the '70s and '80s. Some of his favorite friends are here, as is some of the work he gave them as gifts. Debbie Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born July 1, 1945, in Miami, Florida) is a singer-songwriter and actress most famous for being the lead singer for the punk rock/new wave band Blondie. Following her success, she went on to moderate success as a solo artist. , Stephen Sprouse Stephen Sprouse (September 12, 1953 - March 4, 2004) was a fashion designer and artist credited with pioneering the 1980s mix of "uptown sophistication in clothing with a downtown punk and pop sensibility" [1]. , Kenny Scharf and Bob Colacello pop in for some name-dropping from the '70s and '80s. Madonna's here too, along with the New York Post The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and the oldest to have been published continually as a daily.[3] Since 1976, it has been owned by Australian-born billionaire Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and is one of the 10 cover Warhol and Keith Haring customized as part of her 18-panel wedding gift when she married Sean Penn. The '60s Factory years are remembered by some older friends. ``Baby Jane'' Holzer and Billy Name, who also provides photographs of some of the times in their lives, recall the energy and excitement of the Factory and its work-is-play/play-is-work ethic. What a time that was! Glenn O'Brien writes in the book's preface that the Factory, essentially the artist's studio and social club, was Warhol's most important creation. O'Brien calls the Factory ``the first fine-artist corporation'' and says that that's where Warhol refined his patented blend of art and commerce. The art world as a whole, O'Brien observes, never learned Warhol's lesson, and that's why, he claims, it ``is shrinking like that wet witch in Oz.'' Warhol, of course, would have never shrunk from the scene or downsized for the '90s. How could he have, given our endless fascination with celebrities, name brands and hype? His work more than foreshadowed this decade, it was made for it. Like one of his Jackies or Marilyns or soup cans or Coke bottles Coke® bottles Ophthalmology A popular term for thick glasses, which have been fancifully likened to the bottoms of the 'classic' bottles of Coca-Cola™ , Warhol eventually turned himself into an icon. Before he died in February 1987 (of complications following gall-bladder surgery), the artist had started a cable show on MTV MTV in full Music Television U.S. cable television network, established in 1980 to present videos of musicians and singers performing new rock music. MTV won a wide following among rock-music fans worldwide and greatly affected the popular-music business. , ``Andy Warhol's 15 Minutes.'' Had he survived, who knows what he might have produced in his later period? ``Unseen Warhol'' offers a few hints about where he might have taken the future. His ``Last Supper'' series, produced 1985-86, in which the master reinvents an image from another renaissance man, Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci (də vĭn`chē, Ital. lāōnär`dō dä vēn`chē), 1452–1519, Italian painter, sculptor, architect, musician, engineer, and scientist, b. near Vinci, a hill village in Tuscany. , is a far cry from the flat and sometimes unflattering celebrity portraits of the '70s and '80s. ``Last Supper'' glows with a kind of X-ray vision that was uniquely Warhol. Likewise, a 1979 portrait of Judy Garland silk-screened in black over an expressionistic ex·pres·sion·ism n. A movement in the arts during the early part of the 20th century that emphasized subjective expression of the artist's inner experiences. ex·pres , fluid background seems as timeless as anything he ever did. While ``Unseen Warhol'' may not add much to our understanding of Andy Warhol the man, it goes a long way toward showing us the endless energy and humor that characterized his career pursuits. Like all great art, Warhol's best work is possessed of the ``unseen.'' For one who predicted that everyone would enjoy 15 minutes of fame, Warhol's light has brightened American culture for more than 30 years, with no apparent fade-to-black in sight. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Artists Andy Warhol, left, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, shown in 1985 with some of their collaborative work. Associated Press |
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