"Superb...Gopnik persuasively assembles his case over the course of this mesmerising book,which is as much art history and philosophy as it is biography" Kathryn Hughes,The GuardianWhen critics attacked Andy Warhol's Marilyn paintings as shallow,thePop artist was happy to present himself as shallower still: He claimedthat he silkscreened to avoid the hard work of painting,although he wasactually a meticulous workaholic; in interviews he presented himself asa silly naf when in private he was the canniest of sophisticates.Blake Gopnik's definitive biography digs deep into the contradictionsand radical genius that led Andy Warhol to revolutionise our culturalworld.Based on years of archival research and on interviews with hundreds of Warhol's surviving friends,lovers and enemies,Warhol tracesthe artist's path from his origins as the impoverished son of EasternEuropean immigrants in 1930s Pittsburgh,through his early success as acommercial illustrator and his groundbreaking pivot into fine art,tothe society portraiture and popular celebrity of the'70s and'80s,ashe reflected and responded to the changing dynamics of commerce andculture.Warhol sought out all the most glamorous figures of histimes - Susan Sontag,Mick Jagger,the Barons de Rothschild - despitebeing burdened with an almost crippling shyness. Behind the publicglitter of the artist's Factory,with its superstars,drag queens andsocialites,there was a man who lived with his mother for much of hislife and guarded the privacy of his home. He overcame the vicioushomophobia of his youth to become a symbol of gay achievement,whilealways seeking the pleasures of traditional romance and coupledom. (Warhol explodes the myth of his asexuality.)Filled with new insights into the artist's work and personality,Warhol asks: Was he a joke or a genius,a radical or a social climber As Warhol himself would have answered: Yes.
Publisher: Penguin Books LtdISBN: 9780141977744Number of pages: 976Weight: 672 gDimensions: 198 x 129 x 41 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
John Lennon and I once hid from Andy in a closet at the Sherry-Netherland hotel.I wish I'd known him better.This fantastic new biography makes me feel that I do.It really reveals the man - and the genius - under that silver wig.Superb...Gopnik persuasively assembles his case over the course of this mesmerising book,which is as much art history and philosophy as it is biographyA major biography based on hundreds of interviews,which considers the artist as a symbol of gay achievement and explodes the myth of his asexuality.Monumental... rollicking... a formidable achievementGrippingFull of irresistible titbits...Gopnik leaves us little doubt of the significance of Warhol at his best: the links between serial production in his Pop paintings and minimal avant-garde music; the Death & Disaster series identifying tragedy as a new form of mass entertainment; voyeuristic films occluding the line between art and life; portraits that presented America's elite like a range of luxury goods. To borrow a favourite Warholism: Wow.Gopnik's exhaustive but stylishly written and entertaining account is Warholian in the best sense-raptly engaged,colorful,open-minded,and slyly ironic. ("He had become his own Duchampian urinal,worth looking at only because the artist in him had said he was.") Warhol fans and pop art enthusiasts alike will find this an endlessly engrossing portraitServes up fresh details about almost every aspect of Warhol's life in an immensely enjoyable book that blends snappy writing with careful exegeses of the artist's influences and techniques...a fascinating,major work that will spark endless debates.Blake Gopnik's incisive,richly detailed bio puts you in Andy's inner circle and sanctum from beginning to end. It breaks down how,for decades,Andy strategically defined the pop culture zeitgeist as the world's most renowned artistAn excellent inside view of Andy's life,personality,and genius.Art and art history jumped the tracks with Andy Warhol. Blake Gopnik's lucid account of the artist and the wild times puts all that back on track again. An eye-opening biography that reads like a potboiler
Kommentar