Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Crabby again -- Andy Warhol version


I'm usually a big fan of Andy Warhol because I think he was instrumental in several of the big themes of contemporary art that I love -- multiples, grids, images from low culture, carrying his camera everywhere.  But I was annoyed to read in the New York Times this week about a body of his work that I had not been aware of.

These are called the "unstitched-stitched photographs" or "sewn photographs," in which Warhol chose a photo, made four, six or eight prints of it, and "hired a woman" to sew them together.  According to the Times, "at the time of Warhol's death, a stack of the photos was found next to a sewing machine, waiting to be stitched.  Recently, the Warhol Foundation's board decided that the best disposition was to have them stitched as Warhol intended, by the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia."

This account yanked my chain.

First, it always annoys me when artists decided that some form of needlework is just what the doctor ordered for their pieces, so instead of figuring out how to do said needlework, they have their girlfriend, wife or mother do it for them.  At least Warhol paid somebody to do the dirty work, unlike, I suspect, Claes Oldenburg (wife), Faith Ringgold (mom) and a lot of others I could name.

Second, now that Warhol is dead and Seriously Famous, they decided that sewing the photos together is So Important that it takes a Seriously Important institution to do it, not just some anonymous woman.  One might argue that "as Warhol intended" was to use an anonymous woman, not a Seriously Important institution (although the Fabric Workshop was founded just as Warhol was beginning this series, he didn't see fit to use them for these works). Why not just hire some unemployed garment worker to do the job?


12 comments:

  1. Great point, that last sentence!
    Vancouver Barbara

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  2. Seriously?! Sew typical. Though I think Warhol would get a good giggle out of listening to that foundation board making this decision. What goals could they possible have except to promulgate even more commercial success for the foundation with the imprimatur of the seriously self important institution. He was good at poking fun at the status quo. Me thinks they are looking for another 15 minutes of fame.

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  3. Personally, I'd just use a hot glue gun in this situation. . .

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    1. But wait -- the official Warhol site explains "...the threads from the sewing machine are left unclipped and dangling on many of these works, which draws the viewer's attention away from the abstract patterns and towards the craft of sewing and the physicality of the object."

      can't get that with hot glue, I'm afraid.

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    2. Actually, you can get threads of glue dripping down. :)

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  4. I have been a Warhol fan for many years (even included him as a primary source of inspiration in my Masters thesis). When you think of him coming from marketing for the fashion industry (he made big bucks in ads for shoes) it is not a surprise that he saw value in textiles. I am thinking that those who control his legacy selected a high brow institution not because they can get the job done but to add value to his legacy.

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  5. huh! or what about simply allowing them to be the unstitched stitched photographs? they are his work afterall (well....his and whomever he paid to stitch them). i wonder when next it will be determined to tackle other artists' unfinished work? shall we endeavor to finish writing samuel taylor coleridge's "kubla kahn"? or perhaps pick up brush and paint and finish gilbert stuart's "the athenaeum"? or tackle any one of da vinci's many unfinished works? or elizabeth shoumatoff's watercolour of roosevelt? grumble, grumble....

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  6. I so agree with montana joe (above), that is the main problem with this: how can they possibly know what Warhol intended????? The arrogance of it! Who shall we get to finish Schubert's Unfinished Symphony? Would the Royal College of Music make the task acceptable? Of course it would not. The fact that they are also deeply patronising about the stitching just makes it worse. But it is a lot of nonsense and frankly a form of vandalism. The Parthenon in Athens, the Colosseum in Rome: all looking so unfinished. Let's wheel in the Royal College of Architects to sort them out...

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  7. I'm surprised that no one else has expressed annoyance at the aspect of this that annoys me: no attempt to discover the identity of the woman who participated in the creation of these pieces.

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  8. I don't know - does anyone care or even think about the woman who quilts all of Nancy Crow's work? I think it is somewhat similar in terms of recognition. She is given explicit directions and does the grunt work.

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