Hello Andy - and Thank You

"I'm a deeply superficial person" - Andy Warhol

Intuition is a gift...

...not because some people have it and others don't, but because when you allow yourself to use it (we all have some) it enriches your life and experiences.

A good friend of mine took me to visit the grave of Andy Warhol yesterday. (Thank you, V. :))

I was an art minor in college, mostly because my gut instinct saw it as my one chance in a  lifetime to experience the eccentric, expressive, be-yourself world of art. NOT, mind you, that a small Baptist affiliated right-wing evangelical school in the heart of the ruby red state where I was born and raised had much of an art world in it. I swear to you this really happened: they wouldn't allow a photo of Michelangelo's David to be displayed without covering up his [whisper] you know. Needless to say, any art department that can't deal with a picture of a classic Renaissance nude going to teach much about Andy Warhol. Or anything else art related.

Which is probably why my inadequate, stereotypical image of Andy Warhol and "The Factory" was one of my first fledgling steps away from that fundamentalist world and closer to this one. The art minor was a good call, and has indeed become an important cornerstone in my current world-view. Pop art was the exact opposite of everything there and so became a symbol for the way out. I wished I had the guts to be in a place like the Factory and not be scared s***less. I wished I could be as comfortable inside my own skin as Andy and other artists appeared to be. Sure, some people  say he was innately insecure and who-knows-what else about him. He is quoted as recognizing his own "superficial" nature. Yet, he still DID the things he did, self-secure or not, superficial or not. He had the sheer guts to be unique and new even though he was born and raised in a relatively conservative part of the world, too.

He went from Pittsburgh to New York, to find the place his art could thrive. I followed his trail, leaving West Virginia to come to Pittsburgh, and grow into my own skin too. Now I could time-teleport into the Factory and enjoy it for an adventure. Now my still-vague, still-inadequate,  still-stereotypical understanding of Andy Warhol inspires me for a whole new set of reasons.

There is magic in the mundane...in everyone and everything. I deeply believe that.

He, on the other hand, made other people believe it. It takes something extraordinary to plunk down a soup can and make it into something special. That is what I want to do with my art (it's writing these days, instead of pottery).  I want to show people the magic and intuition that is inside each and every one of us. You might think you are just ordinary, like a can of soup. Andy showed us that soup cans be pretty awesome.

The energy at his grave was very much akin to that. It was a simple place on an ordinary day, yet the day was alive: sun and a strong breeze, but that wasn't all. If you are ever there, experience it with you sixth sense, too. There is an alive-ness there, a connection to the living. The place resonates with energy of those who have visited, and who have been touched by Warhol's artwork. Where I grew up, graveyards are very isolated places. This one overlooks a busy roadway. It gave me a sense of deep satisfaction to see that...it felt as Andy was happy for the connection to living people, the energy of bustle, and movement and modern human life. As if the road was "a thread between places and a thread between worlds" so to speak.  There was a vague sense of gentleness and fragility or maybe vulnerability, but more than that - much more - there was a deep and abiding sense of authenticity.He wasn't just surface...he was surface all the way to the core. What you see is what you got. At least, that's what it felt like, standing there, paying respect to a bit of public history and private back story.

I plan to take my daughter to the Warhol museum this summer. I need to learn about this guy for real this time. I need to go to the Factory and make something.

Hello Andy - and thank you.