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Animal Love
Rarely seen Warhol works honor Silent Spring anniversary
March 22, 2002
- June 23, 2002
Two legendary former locals—Andy Warhol and Rachel
Carson—will be united in spirit when The Warhol opens an exhibition on
March 22 titled Silent Spring:
Warhol’s Endangered Species and Vanishing Animals.
Curated by assistant archivist Matt Wrbican, the
exhibition honors the 40th anniversary of the publication of
Rachel Carson’s landmark 1962 book, Silent
Spring, which exposed the deleterious effects of pesticides on animals
and the environment.
According to Dr. Ellen Dorsey, executive director of the
Rachel Carson Institute at Carson’s
alma mater, Chatham College,
“Few works can be credited with having such far-reaching impact. Carson’s
poetic expose and steadfast advocacy led to the banning of DDT, the
establishment of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the
groundswell of public opinion and mobilization that led to the modern-day
environmental movement.” Carson’s
childhood home in Springdale, Pennsylvania,
is now an environmental education center for the public known as the Rachel
Carson Homestead.
Andy Warhol was an animal lover—as his many affectionate
portraits of cats and dogs clearly attest.
However, according to biographer David Bourdon, Endangered Species and Vanishing
Animals, both produced in the 1980s, demonstrated his growing awareness
and concern for the more jeopardized members of the animal kingdom. Endangered
Species is a portfolio of 10 brilliantly colored prints, each depicting
a different animal in indomitable Warhol style. The Andy
Warhol Museum
is displaying these prints for the first time as part of this
exhibition.
Vanishing Animals
is a set of 15 unique works on paper Warhol created for a book he produced
in collaboration with Kurt Benirschke of the San Diego Zoo. Not all 15 of the original works will be
on display, but they can all be seen in copies of the book as part of the
exhibition.
--Danielle Scherer
Joel Wachs: A New President for the Andy Warhol Foundation for the
Visual Arts
When Andy Warhol died in 1987, he bequeathed essentially
his entire estate to "the advancement of the visual arts." To
achieve this goal, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts was
created. The late Fred Hughes, executor of the artist's will, became the
foundation's first president. In 1990, Arch Gillies took over the helm.
During his tenure, the charitable and advocacy organization became "a
clean and well-oiled machine," according to The Andy Warhol Museum
Director Thomas Sokolowski. Now, there's a new president driving this
important vehicle: Joel Wachs, a 62-year-old lawyer, former Los Angeles
City Councilman (its first openly gay member), art patron, and Andy Warhol
Foundation board member for six years.
In a recent telephone interview, Wachs sounded quite
satisfied with his new position: "My desk is surrounded by four
wonderful works by Andy Warhol and the office is located in the only Louis
Sullivan building in New York,"
he said affably.
Not too long ago, however, Wachs'
outlook wasn't quite so bright. After 30 years on City Council, he
ran for mayor of Los Angeles
but came in fourth in the race.
Despite the defeat, Wachs has consistently been recognized for his
work as a taxpayer's watchdog and a passionate advocate of civil and human
rights. When he left his seat, the maverick councilman was praised in the Los Angeles Times as "A voice
of independence and integrity in City Hall."
The offer to head the Warhol Foundation came on the
heels of the election, and Wachs admitted he was thrilled to accept.
"I love New York and the
extraordinary challenge of this job," he said.
While the role of president is a new challenge, Wachs
has long been intimate with the Greenwich Village-based organization and
its mission. "I've been on the board here for six years and the
Foundation's core programs are things I have been involved in. I'm not
coming in here to rearrange everything," he said.
Endowed with $131 million and committed to giving away
$5 million a year, The Andy Warhol Foundation makes grants to cutting-edge
arts institutions across the country and speaks out for freedom of
expression. "I want to build on what we do with respect to
advocacy," Wachs said.
"Post 9/11, I want to advocate for a role for the
arts community in the rebuilding of lower Manhattan,"
he continued. "To make sure they get a voice at the table. It's
critical to this city and an example to other cities," he said.
This idea of the arts enhancing the quality of life has
always been a hallmark of Wachs' agenda, both political and private.
"I can't imagine my life without poetry, theater, literature. All the arts are important to me,"
he said. "But my personal love has been contemporary art."
Wachs has long been noted as an art collector and patron
of artists and museums. Art News
once listed him among the top 200 collectors in the world, and as a
councilman he helped put together a $17 million arts endowment.
Wachs said he has bought several works of art since he's
been in New York, but laments
that he has to keep them in a closet until he moves out of his sublet and
into a place of his own.
While he's looking forward to establishing a Manhattan
residence, Wachs said he will always maintain ties to California.
"I'm really looking forward to bringing my art to New
York," he admits."But my home, friends,
and memories are in Los Angeles,"
he said. "My elderly mother is there, I've kept my house there, and
all my possessions are there.
One thing he doesn't really miss is
having to drive everywhere. "You can't imagine how happy I am
not to have a car," he said. "Coming from Los
Angeles, the freedom is amazing. I love walking in
the city."
He also anticipates visiting Pittsburgh
more often. "I love Carnegie Museums and I'm especially fond of The
Andy Warhol Museum," he said. "I look forward to coming to Pittsburgh
to participate in The Warhol board meetings."
One thing Wachs sees and embraces on both coasts is a
vibrant contemporary arts scene: "I have friends in both places who
are artists, museum directors, critics. Creative
people are an asset to any community."
Off the Wall: Spring 2002
The Andy Warhol Museum's spring Off
the Wall offerings feature two of the New York performance scene's baddest boys.
First up on March 23
is Mike Albo, described in Paper
as "Blessed with a poet's ear, a novelist's eye, and a speed freak's
tongue." This fast-talking and physically hyperactive artist brings
his one-man show, Please Everything
Burst, which includes roughly a dozen monologues exploding topics such
as media, materialism, status, sex, and pop culture.
While one of Albo's
characters claims, "I want to live in a space between magazines,"
the performer himself has been turning up in a number of them. Reviewers
are calling his energetic piece hilarious, touching, honest, ironic, and
undeniably fascinating; and describing Albo as everything from a
"Huckleberry Finn" to a "self-loathing Rupert Everett with a
dash of Dennis Miller." Co-written with Virginia Heffernan, Please Everything Burst is a
ferociously funny show from an astute social satirist.
Off the Wall continues on April 27 with No Black Male Show, led by
multi-talented Carl Hancock Rux. A charismatic composer, musician, poet,
and spoken-word performer, his distinctively deep baritone voice has been
compared to "Gil Scott Heron shaded with Jimi Hendrix swagger."
He will arrive at The Warhol with a trio of vocalists and percussionists,
including Helga Davis, Jason Finkelman, and Valerie Winbourne.
Although Rux grew up
in foster care in New York's Harlem, he has gone on to attend Columbia University and was named by The New York Times as "One of 30 Artists Under the Age of
30 Most Likely to Influence Culture Over the Next 30 Years." He has
published a collection of poetry and prose called Pagan Operetta, and also has appeared in works such as the
Nuyorican Theater Festival Anthology. In 1999 his CD, Rux Review, and was selected by The New York Times as one of the 10 Best Alternative Albums of
the Year.
Both programs begin
at 8 p.m. Tickets
are $15; $10 for students. A meet-the-artist reception follows each
performance. For more information call 412. 237. 8300.
--Margie Romero
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