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Over the past 10 years, there have been several celebrity sightings in the galleries of The Andy Warhol Museum. Whether in town for a concert or lecture, on location for a film shoot, or just passing through, more often than not, the celebrity who decides to take in Pittsburgh’s sights, also decides to take a stroll through The Warhol.

 

 

 

 

 



Celebrities Sighted
at The Warhol

1. Mick Jagger
In Pittsburgh for the The Rolling Stone’s 1999 No Security tour, Mick Jagger toured The Warhol and posed for a photograph next to the 1975 portrait Warhol painted of him.

2. Paige Davis and the cast of Trading Spaces
When the cast of the popular TLC home decorating show, Trading Spaces came to town in August 2003 to redecorate the homes of four lucky Pittsburgh families, they chose The Warhol as the ideal location to film the episode’s introduction.

3. Patti Smith
In September 2002, The Warhol organized an exhibition of drawings by artist, poet, and “godmother of punk” Patti Smith, entitled Strange Messenger: The Work of Patti Smith. Patti greeted adoring fans gathered at The Warhol and later performed a benefit concert to a sold-out audience at the Byham Theater.

4. Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett-as-artist appeared at The Warhol in 2003 in support of the exhibition Keith Edmier and Farrah Fawcett. The Warhol presented the collaborative project between the
ex-Charlie’s Angels star and contemporary sculptor Keith Edmier as part of its summer-long celebration of Andy Warhol’s 75th birthday.

5. Salman Rushdie
The noted British novelist was under a death sentence by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini for his controversial book Satanic Verses when he visited The Warhol in 1996. Although he was being hidden and protected by British authorities and police at the time, he moved through The Warhol’s galleries with only two bodyguards.

6. Monica Lewinsky

Fresh from her 15 minutes of fame in the Clinton scandal, Monica Lewinsky came to Pittsburgh in 2000 for her brother’s graduation from Carnegie Mellon University and rounded out her stay with a trip to The Warhol.

7. U2
In 1997, the legendary Irish-rock band stopped into The Warhol the night before their big concert at Three Rivers Stadium. When museum staff commented on lead-singer Bono’s shoes, he offered up a whiff. The reason? To prove that expensive shoes never smell bad.

8. Duran Duran
Nick Rhodes and Simon LeBon of the 1980s super-group remembered their friend Andy Warhol and wooed museum staff with backstage passes to their Pittsburgh concert in 2000.

9. Pee Wee Herman
(aka Paul Reubens)
Paul Reubens was among several celebrities, including filmmaker John Waters and artist Roy Lichtenstein, who attended the 24-hour party for The Warhol’s grand opening in 1994.

10. Robert Downey Jr.
In town to film Wonderboys, Robert Downey Jr. took a moment in 1999 to visit The Warhol.


Off the Wall Closes with Us

The internationally acclaimed solo performer, Tim Miller, will close out The Warhol’s 2004 season of Off the Wall with a performance of his newest piece, Us. Miller performs two nights at The Warhol— Saturday, May 22, and Sunday May 23, at 8 p.m.

Hailed for its humor and passion, Miller’s performance art is dedicated to trying to make sense of love, sex, and life. As a renowned gay-rights activist, Miller strives to craft an artistic, spiritual, and political exploration of his own identity as a homosexual. Miller has performed throughout North America, Australia, and Europe in such venues as the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, the Walker Art Center, and New York’s Performance Space (P.S.) 122, where he was one of the organization’s founding artists.

Fast, funny, and furious, Miller’s newest show, Us, ricochets between his life-long love affair with Broadway musicals and an exploration of home, exile, and the injustices lesbian and gay people face in the United States. Us is a humorous and angy exploration of American contradictions, with Miller careening from a portrayal of an 8-year-old boy doing stripteases to the musical Gypsy, to a 10-year-old boy planning to flee to Canada to escape the Vietnam War. With the rapidity of a veteran performer, Miller shifts from a tongue-in-cheek guide explaining how not to be angry, to a surreal wedding day tug-of-war at the edge of America as Niagara Falls rushes between his legs.
Single tickets are $18; $15 for students and Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh members. Seating is open and not assigned. All tickets are sold through The Andy Warhol Museum at 412.237.8300.

 

365 Takes on The Warhol’s World-Renowned Collection

Beginning in June, fans of The Warhol will be able to show off the Museum’s collection on their coffee tables. In celebration of the museum’s 10th anniversary, The Warhol has teamed up with Harry N. Abrams Inc., to publish the book Andy Warhol: 365 Takes: The Andy Warhol Museum Collection (hardcover, 744 pages). The book serves as an introduction to and a handbook for the world’s most extensive collection of Andy Warhol’s art and archives.

365 Takes is part of Abrams’ highly popular 365 Days series and is illustrated with nearly 400 objects from The Warhol’s collection, from paintings and film stills to party invitations and newspaper clippings. Several illustrations feature works that have been exhibited within the museum’s galleries. The book also features quotes from Warhol’s own irreverent writings and interviews along with lively commentaries and factoids written by The Warhol staff.

“ Many people have memories of Warhol limited to the 1960s,” says The Warhol’s director and one of the book’s authors, Thomas Sokolowski. “It’s astonishing to see the evolution of his entire body of work through this book—including Warhol’s earlier work of the 1950s, his more abstract work of the 1970s, the collaborations with Basquiat and others during the 80s, and beyond.”

 

Youth Invasion 2004

From May 7 through May 14, The Warhol will present Youth Invasion, a week-long event highlighting teens’ unique take on the life and work of Andy Warhol. This year’s Youth Invasion will feature Warhol-inspired artwork by local teens displayed in and around the museum, teen guides in the galleries, and an exhibition curated entirely by teens, which looks at the diverse group of young people who regularly hung around Warhol’s famous New York studio, The Silver Factory.

For three years, The Warhol has been working closely with students and teachers from the museum’s partner schools—Schenley High School (Warhol’s alma mater) and Pittsburgh’s High School for the Creative and Performing Arts—as well as with teens from other schools around the Pittsburgh area. A committee of more than a dozen students has been working to plan and develop the various elements of Youth Invasion 2004, and has been involved in every step of the process, from designing flyers and t-shirts to meeting with the museum’s curatorial and programming staff.

Youth Invasion kicks-off on May 7 with a special teen-coordinated Good Fridays event featuring bands, a spoken-word open-mic, makeovers by MAC cosmetics, henna tattooing, a Pop-art-inspired fashion show, hands-on, art-making activities, and much more.

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Copyright (c) 2003 CARNEGIE magazine. All rights reserved.