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Joel Wachs, president
of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Andy Warhol’s older
brothers John and Paul, Mayor Tom Murphy, Director Tom Sokolowski.
Mail Model
U.S. Postal Service Issues the Andy
Warhol Stamp
It was a stampede at Pittsburgh's Andy
Warhol Museum on August 9 as avid collectors, city leaders, and Postal
Service officials all turned out for the First Day of Issue ceremony and
unveiling of the Andy Warhol postage stamp.
Several hundred people gathered in the
entrance gallery of the North Side venue for the Friday afternoon
festivities. Dozens claimed chairs set around a stage on which a large
prototype of the stamp was draped in black velvet. Many more darted into
the museum shop to buy post cards, then joined a long line to purchase
stamps in an ad hoc post office near the coatroom.
Carnegie members Jim Pierce and Robert
Barker were there to mark the occasion. "I bought seven Andy Warhol
post cards. I'll keep one and I'm sending the rest out of state with the
first day of issue cancellation,"
Pierce said. "It's really rare for
a stamp to be opened in Pittsburgh," he noted.
In addition to being sold individually,
the stamps were also available in a commemorative pane of 20. Jim
Williamson, of Moon Township, said he attended because he's a stamp
collector (philatelist). "I'm buying for myself and for each of my
kids," he said. The selvage of the pane includes the artist's own
words: "If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just
look at the surface: of my paintings and
films and me, and there I am. There's nothing behind it."
On sale only in Pittsburgh on this first
day of issue, the 37-cent stamp features Warhol's "Self-Portrait,
1964." Painted when the artist was in his mid-30s, before he adopted
his famous wig, the picture depicts a confident
young man in a black tee shirt posed
against a vivid teal background. Sixty-one million Andy Warhol stamps went
into circulation across the country the day after the ceremony.
During the dedication, Pittsburgh Mayor
Tom Murphy proclaimed it to be Andy Warhol Day and paid tribute to the
"artist's enduring impact." On a lighter note, the mayor
mentioned that when he was younger, he was told he could win an Andy Warhol
look alike contest.
Andy Warhol Museum Director Tom
Sokolowski, wearing a tee shirt printed with the image from the stamp, told
the audience: "Andy Warhol was born to
poverty, but through sheer tenacity and
hard work he became the most influential artist of the second half of the
20th century."
In from New York for the occasion was
Joel Wachs, president of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
Wachs congratulated the Postal Service for its choice, and also said,
"I don't know a museum anywhere that has accomplished as much in such
a short time as the Andy Warhol Museum."
As the drape was pulled from the image,
the Andy Warhol postage stamp got its due: applause and cheering from the
large crowd. The event proved that
even in the era of e-mail, the
popularity of philately still sticks.
John Fleck
Off the Wall
A double
dose of drag divas and a deeply personal evening of dance theatre will be
presented by the Andy Warhol Museum's "Off the Wall" series in November
and December.
Infamous
"NEA Four" member John
Fleck is up first on November 2 with his outrageous comedy, Nothin' Beats Pussy. Based on his
own Hollywood experience from films like The Naked Gun and Waterworld,
Fleck portrays starlets Pussy and Del Cracker with low-camp burlesque,
kitschy music, and even puppets.
Up next
is Shequida's Popera on November
23. A drag queen with a five-octave vocal range, it's been said that
Shequida sings so well and is so glamorous she makes Kathleen Battle look
like a church mouse. The
creator
of Opera for Dummies, in this new show Shequida sends up singers from
Jessye Norman to Cher, and does a few straightforward numbers as well.
On
December 14, dancer Maura Nguyen
Donohue brings in When You're Old
Enough. Through stories and choreography, the piece depicts her
experiences
as a
young woman of Vietnamese and American heritage searching for her identity.
All
events begin at 8 p.m. and a meet the artist reception follows each performance.
Tickets are $15 or $10 for students. For more information, call 412.237.8300.
Warholidays
Art fans
are used to seeing huge Warhol exhibits, such as the 250-piece retrospective
of mostly paintings displayed this year at the Museum of Contemporary Art
in Los Angeles. But there's a quieter, less splashy side
of the
artist too and, appropriately, a show of this work begins November 22 at a
quieter, less splashy venue: the Juniata College Museum of Art.
Curated
by the Warhol Museum's Paper Conservator, Wendy Bennett, Happy Warholidays features
Christmas-themed drawings, prints, and objects created by Andy Warhol in
the 1950s. Included are Christmas cards made by the artist for Tiffany's,
graphics done for commercial clients, and personal
drawings
with subjects ranging from elves and poinsettia to religious images such as
the Madonna and Child.
"My
favorite is a monkey with a Christmas ornament hanging from its tail,"
said Bennett, whose specialty is restoring works of art on paper. She describes
Andy Warhol as a great draftsman and notes that his signature monoprint
style is displayed in this show. Also apparent, in both technique and
choice of subject matter, are his Carpatho-Rusyn background and Eastern Rite
Catholic upbringing.
Happy
Warholidays runs through Christmas at the museum, which is located in Huntingdon,
PA, near Altoona.
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