Vision For A Visionary

Andy Warhol was a visionary. He understood that the image, whether that image was a painting, photograph, or video clip, would trump the spoken or written word. The latter might backdrop or frame the event. However, the former would serve as the authentic and verifiable record.

Like Warhol, “Other Voices, Other Rooms,” comprehends the visual’s importance. The exhibit is brilliant in it’s layering of the photographed image alongside the painted image alongside the video image. Every piece was unique. Every room inspired new thoughts and questions.

They also inspired sensory deprivation. In one room, you marveled at Warhol’s signature pop art, while a half dozen screens showed his movies, and a collage of purple-faced Chairman Mao’s stared at you from across the room… It was almost as if, while you were concentrating on the art, the room was consuming you….

What I loved about the exhibit (which I saw twice), was that it wasn’t a flogging of the obvious… When you say Andy Warhol, most non-art patrons would respond with something about a soup can… This exhibit showcased the soup cans… But, it also paraded Warhol’s “Interview” magazines, his MTV work, and his habit of being a pat rack, which was never more evident than when walked past the display of newspapers from the day he was shot…

The Wexner Center for the Arts was even meticulous with his quotes… Yes, they featured his sound bite about fifteen minutes, which everyone can recite with their eyes closed… But, they also, on their elegant red carpet complimented wall, spotlighted his other sphinx-like, less well known pronouncements… The menagerie included “Publicity is like eating peanuts. Once you start you can’t stop.”

When the grand art cities of the world are discussed, Columbus will never be a topic. We fall after New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Barcelona, and possibly Omaha (just kidding)… The Wexner Center’s exhibition of Warhol didn’t change anyone’s minds and it didn’t vault Columbus into world art consciousness… It gave us fifteen minutes… For that, the Wexner Center merits congratulations…