Destination Pittsburgh

I've had a hankering to write about my recent road trip eastward, but wanted to give it a few days to settle in (and also for my road weariness to go wear itself somewhere else). For a week and a half at the end of September and into the beginning of this month, I drove my getting-on-100k-miles Hyundai out east on a whirlwind drive from Wisconsin to Pennsylvania, down to Virginia, and back up through West Virginia, Ohio and home again. It was a lot lot lot of driving.

I've had just about a week to let it all filter through. Out of any place we (my sister Ali and I) went -- and we're talking Chesapeake Bay, Jamestown and Williamsburg, the Blue Ridge Parkway, Charlottesville (VA), and so on, it turns out that Pittsburgh and its environs take the cake.

When I decided to go to Pittsburgh, I had one destination in mind: The Andy Warhol Museum. I consider myself a pretty big fan. Not as maniacal as some I've met, but in the art history world, it's practically a sin to not at least respect the man. So I decided to book a hotel downtown within walking distance from the museum, and that was about all I knew about Pittsburgh until I got there.

And whoa.

From Grandview, down the street from the Duquesne Incline on Mt Washington

One, it's beautiful. It was rainy a little bit of the time we were there, but we didn't let that stop us. The Duquesne Incline, a historic so-called "funicular" (I love that!) or inclined rail, that goes up and down Mt. Washington, offers a brilliant panoramic view of the city and the surrounds. We went up at dusk and saw the city lights starting to twinkle.

Get me in a picture! 

The Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers meet to form the Ohio River around the business district, giving downtown a triangular shape that kind of makes navigation interesting (compounded by the whole numbered street-numbered avenue thing, but we figured it out). I loved the numerous bridges over the rivers, various murals on old brick buildings, the occasional art installation in a vacant store front or corner public space, and the reproduction wooden ships, the Nina and Pinta docked right outside the Del Monte Center.

Pittsburgh is chock full of museums. There are four Carnegie museums (one of which is the one devoted to Andy Warhol), the Fort Pitt Museum, and the Frick Art & Historical Center -- a big one for art buffs, and alas, I did not get there. And of course, plenty of great older churches and funky shops.

One such shop that I just have to highlight is the wonderful and dream-like Jerry's Records on Murray Ave in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, just east of Carnegie Mellon University. 

Via Jerry's -- You get the idea.

Walking into Jerry's is at first like walking into someone's attic. You're greeted by mountainous crates and stashes of unpriced vinyl records that make you wonder, for a moment, if you've walked in the wrong way and perhaps accidentally stepped into the back room. But to the left you enter the largest room of the store, which contains literally floor-to-ceiling rock/pop on vinyl. 45s in boxes stacked on ceiling-high shelving units, 12" singles in boxes and crates on the floor, overstock in overhead units, and so on. Other genres take you on a maze-like tour through the upstairs of this one-of-a-kind place -- vocalists and gospel give way to a room of jazz, which thankfully has a turntable with headphones hooked up so you can test everything.

I plugged the meter for an hour, and stayed longer than that -- until Jerry's closed that night. At least I didn't get a parking ticket, and left with a couple jazz records -- an Erroll Garner and Andre Previn UK import. I didn't see a single thing over eight bucks. Can't beat it.

And as for the Andy Warhol Museum -- I'm just going to hazard a guess that 20 bucks entry fee is a little steep for the average curious museum-goer. I think so, anyway. I really love Warhol, and would have paid an entry fee just to use the old-fashioned photo booth in the basement, but I still cringed a little bit when Ali and I forked over $40. But we had fun laying on the floor in the silver cloud room and meandering through rooms full of nothing but gold Elvises and skulls. The skull gallery was by far my favorite.

The Andy Warhol Bridge and the business district further yonder.

So, where the Warhol Museum is concerned -- if you like his stuff, and you want to invest some time to really absorb it, then you should absolutely go. It's superb. On the other hand, if you have a passing fancy for it, but would rather go get Starbucks, then... well. I admit I probably shouldn't tell you, in good faith, as an aspiring art historian, that going to get Starbucks will make you feel marginally less overcharged. Marginally.

Our afternoon foray to Fallingwater soon to come. ;)

a bit of catch-up.

so, first, i should start by admitting that i've been a total SLACKER in the blog department. but -- i'll at least attempt to amend that situation with a couple of totally killer things i've stumbled across recently. all worth a glance. some of which i'm excited to visit in person over the next few months!

first, and maybe most exciting to me: the underbelly project. the site is apparently not totally up and running yet, but to sate our street art appetite (or mine, at least!) there are a few blogs that show images of the work. what is it? some pretty well-known street artists ("rockstars," even, if you like that term. i don't, but just to clarify) have done up some fantaaastic walls of a disused train station in new york city. i don't personally identify the subway system in new york with its abandoned stations -- the ones in london have taken on something of a cult status over the years. but the underbelly project has enlisted some talented folks to paint an underground street art gallery. it's not open all the time, and hosts pieces most of us will never see. but artists like roa, and the london police are all in there -- i've raved about these two before here, and here -- doing up the place, in some cases in collaboration with others, to make some really astounding work that's mostly hidden.

some amazing photographs via lunapark on flickr here.

that's one thing i would kill to see.
but onto another...


via contemporist

this is probably the greatest small home i've seen in a long time. it's so simple. fluid, open, absolutely made of windows. that's what i like. i like windows. lots and lots of them! everywhere! you get the idea. toronto-based GH3 designed this house for an obviously amazing landscape. i remember rock like that when i was "survival camping" in ontario several years ago -- the way that the house looks like its jutting out of the stone is so awesome. not to mention it's the minimal hyper-modern style that i lalalove. i want to spend MY weekends here. clear out!



one of the galleries on my list to check out in london, in the spring? concrete hermit. currently showing kid acne, i can't wait to see what's on when i'm there in 2011. alternative contemporary art space -- and shop!! woo!! looks like my kind of place.



and last but DEFINITELY not least: POP: the genius of andy warhol by tony scherman and david dalton. if i had to recommend one book that i've read this year, it would be this one. hands down. if you have even the most vague, fleeting interest in andy warhol, not to mention a dying urge to know absolutely everything about him (ahem, me?) this book is absolutely worth the read. because, well, it's highly readable. it's a wild ride. he was an outrageous person who did outrageous things and surrounded himself with outrageous people. one might argue that those people were what made him outrageous to begin with. there are a lot of other names to swallow in andy's world -- he surrounded himself with a huge slew of people. but all of these characters are worth knowing.

the book isn't a comprehensive b-to-d bio. it's the 1960s; it's the decade that andy warhol established himself as possibly the most famous and prolific artist in the world. at least of the 20th century. the fact that one can find warhol's images or words stamped on anything from jeans and record album covers to drink coasters and necklaces is sort of self-explanatory. it's basically warhol's dream. this book is a joy. it's entertaining -- how can his life not be entertaining? it examines his lifestyle and how it related to his work. even though i personally wouldn't mind, it doesn't go into a bunch of technical this-means-that and that-is-like-that-because sort of art historical jargon. if anything, it dispels the notion the warhol's works "mean" much of anything at all. it's objective. and it's colorful without being gaudy.

anyway. READ IT. read it. readittttt. (paperback is out 11/23/2010!)

andy warhol polaroids.

this is how i feel about andy warhol:

i adore him. and i adore what he's done. but that's covering a very broad, wide, generalized range of things -- from screen prints and lithrographs to paintings, sculptures, photography, film -- you name it. a lot of it i love love love love (love!) -- his rorschach paintings, or his architectonic advertisements, repeating elvises, virgin marys, and so on (see september 26, 2009). but andy warhol produced SO MUCH (this is definitely just part of his ouevre), that there is, within it all -- good andy, and so-so andy. i wouldn't go as far as to say there's bad andy. there's uneventful andy. there's 'well, that's andy, so i guess i like it' andy. and then there's 'this is a really badly-hung show; why is andy here?' andy.

the latter is the problem i had today.

the lawton gallery on the university of green bay campus had a show entitled 'hidden treasures' which is a conglomerate of artwork from collections around the green bay area. these included local and not-so-local artists, contemporary and not-so-contemporary. it ranged from indian art to woodcuts from the osaka school, to gilbert & george (a total let-down because the one gilbert & george piece was one that could have been downloaded for free from the guardian.co.uk website in 2007)...

i can't reasonably complain about this show because it is green bay, and it is uwgb, and what is a person to expect? this isn't new york or chicago, or even milwaukee. i thought the show was laid-out poorly, though, but that's all i'm going to say about it.

the warhol polaroids were the reason i went. and worth looking at for any warhol fanzoid. the ones they had on display were part of a larger gift from the andy warhol foundation to the university of green bay. the basquiat polaroid pictured above is very similar to one they have at the lawton gallery, except without the hand and a little more of a smile. there were also photos of dolly parton, jean-michele basquiat's parents, bruno bischofberger's kids, and others. they weren't the best ones in the bunch, but of thousands of polaroids, seeing a few in a group like that is always a treat and i don't care where they are or who has them or how weird the rest of the show looks.

there are a few other green bay collection pieces at the neville public museum in green bay, although i did not visit there today. the show at the lawton is on display through april 1.

pop life.

via slamxhype

pretty much this looks like the coolest show of the moment. andy warhol, damien hirst, jeff koons, takashi murakami, keith haring, and more. clearly. it's like... if i had a spare $800 i would jump a flight to london RIGHT NOW, and i would go directly to this show. the concept of the show is based on the andy warhol's famous quote, "good business is the best art."

the show is at the tate modern through january 17, 2010. maybe i can still make it after all. ;)

and speaking of london.. looks as though they're taking a hint from paris and other cities that have implemented the bikes-for-hire programs with the docks that you can swipe your credit card, rent the bike, then return... so you can bike around town. london appears to finally be getting on the bandwagon and if the implementation goes as planned, they expect there to be 6,000 bikes and 400 docks throughout the city next summer! link to the bbc video here.

milwaukee does warhol. or does warhol do milwaukee?

warhol! went down to MAM today to see the first day of andy warhol: the last decade, which was EXCELLENT. a really well-put-together show of a wide range of his works... eggs, ads, rorschachs, collaborations with basquiat, and more. it really was quite excellent. i plan to go again and spend a long while, with an audio guide. i'm that big of a freak.

no photos were allowed in the exhibition itself, but the chairman maos (always a favorite) are in the permanent collection, and i was just as excited to see them again.

and below, a little MAM calatrava action for you on the east end of the building.



also, if ever in milwaukee, check out beans & barley. perfect, hip little cafe and market on milwaukee's east side. reminded me a lot of a market in arcata, california where i used to shop called wildberries, except smaller, and with a cafe. :) had a really wonderful chicken quesadilla there with friends. yum!

just jack and milwaukee warhol mania.

alright, so here's the deal. if you haven't ever listened to just jack, and you like u.k. music, and you like a good dance beat, WHY haven't you listened to just jack?? ;) jack allsop, a.k.a. just jack has this new album (coming?) out entitled all night cinema. he hasn't made it to u.s. mainstream at all, but i remember listening to his first much more hip-hop-infused debut the outer marker, way back in '03 when i was living out in northern california. i sort of forgot about him then, and for a long time, until one of my buddies asked me one day, "have you heard of just jack? he has a great album out." and it was his latest at the time, overtones, featuring people like kylie minogue and others, and much more electronic. i guess the song "starz in their eyes" had top radio play in the u.k. for a long time. never would have heard that here.

but NOW! since i've been waiting since APRIL... all night cinema has hit the racks, at least in some places, and it's beaten the last two for me. my favorite tracks so far are "embers" (the first single), "253," "the day i died" (the second single) and the instrumental "basement," which has a pounding beat i can't get over. and mind, i don't even listen to techno! you can hear clips from tracks and learn more about him here.

... onto the art world, ever-blossoming in wisconsin...

september 26, 2009!! you know where i will be? i will be in milwaukee, at the milwaukee art museum, checking out their new show andy warhol: the last decade... YESSS. someone i work with mentioned this is passing the other day, and i had actually not heard about it! i know! no idea. so there will be a day trip in order to go see that show. and maybe see it again, before it takes off on its national tour. i hope it's good.

below i've included a video that i like a lot. andy warhol eating a hamburger. it's so random, and like most things, that's why it's so great. plus, i like the sound emphasis on the bags and wrappers. it's just so... andy.