Who are we? We are our stories.

Monday, November 23, 2009

From Soup to Nuts

"Andy Warhol is everywhere. He's in Europe. He's in Asia. He's quoted in papers every day. He has energy still. He's just, you know, still alive".
The soup cans are from a 2004 Campbell's limited run. They aren't really slanted. They are shot at an artsy angle just to irritate the viewer.

The quote is from an article in ARTnews. As I was reading it, I was struck by the distance from New York City to Jerkwater Lake, Minnesota. Andy Warhol was never taken seriously as an artist out here. He was a odd P.T.Barnum blip on the evening news that soon vanished into the News of the Weird, to be forgotten forever. He is not "everywhere" nor "alive". In general, art here in the outback involves recognizable scenes that are populated by either children with oversized eyes, running horses or flying ducks...but not rows and rows of soup cans or Marilyn Monroes.

(Disclaimer: I was an art major. My daughter began life as an art major, only to switch later to philosophy, for better job opportunities.)

2 comments:

Margadant said...

Aside from your "lost" rendering of the eagle clutching Nixon's head and the portrait of the esteemed Sparse Gray Hackle that you sold me for a song, I concur in all of your judgments about art on the high plains and where Andy fits in the scheme of things.

Lee has picked up an art minor and is also quick to affirm Addy's judgment on the food-on-the-table value of that degree. Of course, he's paying handsome bucks to snowshoe in the North Woods for three weeks in January, so that vote is subject to close audit.

Gunnar Berg said...

Yep.

That philosophy degree is paying big dividends too.