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Andy Warhol News Archive September 2009

(to August 2009)

Milwaukee Art Museum goes pink for opening of Andy Warhol: The Last Decade

The wings of the Milwaukee Art Museum will for the first time glow bright pink to celebrate the opening of the Andy Warhol: Last Decade exhibition. The exhibition opened September 23rd and the pink glow is due to last until October 2nd - in honor of the beginning of National Breast Cancer Awareness month.

"Andy Warhol: The Last Decade" at the Milwaukee Art Museum continues through January 3, 2010 and covers the prodigious amount of work that Warhol produced during his last decade of life - a particularly prolific time for the artist as he progressed from his 'bring home the bacon' commissioned celebrity portraits to his art-for-art's sakes series such as his abstract Oxidation (aka "Piss") paintings, his collaborations with Jean-Michel Basquiat and his final series of works - The Last Supper paintings.

Supernovas to include work by Mary Woronov, Billy Name, Ultra Violet and Bibbe Hansen

The party at the Chelsea Hotel on Friday, September 18th (see "BBC to film Warhol party at the Chelsea Hotel" below) will kick off a three day exhibition of art which will include works by Billy Name, Mary Woronov, Ultra Violet and Bibbe Hansen and others as well as music, film and personal appearances by Ivy Nicholson, David Dalton (co-author of the upcoming Warhol biography) and Caffe Cino playwright Robert Heide.

"21st Century Happening: ‘Supernova!’" kicks off at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 18, and continues from 11 a.m. to 12 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 19 and Sunday, Sept. 20 at the Chelsea Hotel at 222 W. 23rd St. in Manhattan.

Jim Carroll dies

Poet Jim Carroll - author of The Basketball Diaries (later made into a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio) and various collections of poems (including The Book of Nods) which often detailed his forays into heroin addiction - died on Friday, September 11, 2009 of a heart attack. One collection of poems, Living at the Movies, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1973.

Although he was not a regular at Warhol's silver Factory, Carroll's life did intersect with some of Warhol's superstars. He read poetry at the St. Marks Church as did Gerard Malanga (and Ingrid Superstar) and Malanga photographed him at the second Factory - Warhol's Union Square studio and offices. In his journals Carroll described Warhol's premises as a "medieval monastery" with Warhol as the "Pope in exile" and Paul Morrissey as the "abbot and Grand Inquisitor.' (LD317) Legend has it that he was one of the people that Andrea Feldman wrote to prior to her suicide.

Carroll had also shared an apartment with Patti Smith and Robert Maplethorpe. When Smith was asked in 1972 what other poets she would like to tour with, she named Carroll as one of them, calling him "one of America's true poets."

Patti Smith (1972):

"Jim Carroll is one of America's true poets. I mean, he is a true poet. It kills me he's twenty-three, he wrote all his best poems the same year of his life as Rimbaud did. He had the same intellectual quality and bravado as Rimbaud. He's a junkie. He's bisexual... He lives all over. He lives a disgusting life. Sometimes you have to pull him out of a gutter. He's been in prison. He's a total fuck-up. But what great poet wasn't?

I think the St. Mark's poets are so namby-pamby they're frauds. They write about 'Today at 9:15 I shot speed with Brigid, sitting in the such and such.' They're real cute about putting it in a poem but if Jim Carroll comes into the church and throws up that's not a poem to them, that's not cool. If you could play with it in your poetry that's okay but if you're really with it, that's something else. They don't want to face it.

I think he's got all the characteristics of a great poet. He was St. Marks' chance to have something real among them. And they blackballed him because he fucked up. I mean, he didn't come to his poetry reading. He was in jail. Good for him."
("Patti Smith's First Interview: 15 August 1972" in Victor Bockris, Patti Smith (London: Fourth Estate, Ltd., 1999), pp. 252-3)

Richard Weisman's Warhol paintings are stolen

A thief has stolen some Warhol paintings from Richard Weisman's private collection. Weisman's housekeeper noticed the missing pieces on September 3rd. There was no sign of forced entry into the home and nothing else was taken. It is unclear exactly when the robbery took place as Weisman had left the house a day earlier. The works were displayed in his dining room and included portraits of tennis player Chris Evert, basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, soccer star Pelé, baseball pitcher Tom Seaver and a portrait of Weisman. A $1 million reward has been offered for information leading to their recovery.

Details in the Los Angeles Times here or on the BBC (with video) here.

Alison Jackson does Andy Warhol

A new film on Andy Warhol by British artist Alison Jackson will be shown in the U.K. on October 4, 2009 as part of the South Bank Show series on ITV1 at 10:15 pm.

Abel Ferrara's Chelsea on the Rocks opens September 25th

Abel Ferrara's new film about the Chelsea Hotel and its residents - past and present - will have its U.S. cinema premiere on September 25, 2009 at the Chelsea Clearview Cinemas in New York. The film combines footage of interviews with Chelsea residents and re-enactments of past events at the Chelsea. Includes Viva's daughter, Gaby Hoffmann, Dennis Hopper, Lola Schnabel, Grace Jones and R. Crumb.

The Chelsea on the Rocks website is here.

BBC to film Warhol party at the Chelsea Hotel

The BBC will be shooting footage for "Modern Masters: Andy Warhol" at the Supernovas! Warhol Superstars party taking place at at the Chelsea Hotel on Friday, September 18, 2009 from 7:00 pm to midnight and the public is invited - admission will be $10.00 at the door. Superstars attending include Billy Name, Mary Woronov, Allen Midgette, Bibbe Hansen, Louis Waldon, Ivy Nicholson and others.

Sunday Times accused of "blackmail" over Pietro Psaier controversy

(click on image to play video)

The signature of Andy Warhol as it appears on a painting alleged to be by Andy Warhol and Pietro Psaier as exhibited at the Atlantica Gallery in Spain (You Tube footage at: here.)

A researcher has accused the The Sunday Times in London of "blackmail" over their recent article disputing claims about an artist called "Pietro Psaier."

According to a press release by a London auctioneer, Pietro Psaier designed "backdrops for Warhol's films and eventually produced layouts, silk-screens and joint works at Warhol's studio 'The Factory.'" The same press release claims that Psaier "worked with Jean-Michel Basquiat for three months." The press release can be found here.

The auctioneer who issued that press release claimed to have sold "nearly 1,500 of Psaier's works since 2004" in an article in the Daily Telegraph which can be found at: here.

Last year, in another press release issued by the auctioneer, he claimed to have sold a "joint work" of Andy Warhol and Pietro Psaier of Marilyn Monroe and another "joint work" by Psaier and Warhol of Che Guevara. See here)

The researcher's online accusations against The Sunday Times appear here.

The researcher also makes accusations about myself and I have responded to those accusations in an open letter to the researcher, which begins with background information about the case here.

The Sunday Times article can be found here.

An early version of the original Wikipedia page for Psaier can be found here.

Ronald Tavel tribute at the Anthology Film Archives

In December 2009 the Anthology Film Archives in New York will be showing a series of Warhol films scripted by Ronald Tavel as a tribute to Tavel who died last year after completing a new book based in Thailand where he lived after leaving New York. The films to be screened over a one week period will include Screen Test #1 (starring Warhol's then-boyfriend Philip Fagan), Screen Test #2 (with brilliant performances by Mario Montez as the subject of the Screen Test and Tavel as the off-screen "Tester's Voice"), Hedy (starring Mary Woronov), Vinyl (with Edie Sedgwick and Gerard Malanga), Kitchen (starring Edie Sedgwick), Space (with Edie Sedgwick), Horse (starring Gregory Battcock on poppers), Harlot, The Life of Juanita Castro (with Marie Menken), and The Chelsea Girls (with Mary Woronov). Further details will be posted here as they become available.

For more information on Ronald Tavel, see "Ronald Tavel and Andy Warhol's Factory" and "Coming Together to Stay Apart."

Holly Woodlawn in Vomit Queens

Warhol star Holly Woodlawn will be appearing in Vomit Queens, a new film described as a dark comedy that centers around two overweight friends who "get a mysterious fortune cookie that leads them to the evil Madame" played by Holly Woodlawn.

In addition to Holly, the film stars Lisa Crosato and Natalie Denise Sperl who describe themselves as "drag queens trapped in straight girl bodies" on their twitter page here. The cast also includes Joy Nash and Alyssa Preston, with cinematography by Javier Prato.

Details here.

Holly is also working on another film project - Champagne and Cocaine, the Holly Woodlawn Saga.

Eduardo Paolozzi, Dave Hullfish Bailey and Nils Norman at Raven Row

"Eduardo Paolozzi: The Jet Age Compendium" opens at Raven Row on September 4th, along with "Dave Hullfish Bailey & Nils Norman: Surrounded by Squares."

Details here.

John Cage and Ray Johnson at MACBA in Barcelona

"The Anarchy of Silence. John Cage and Experimental Art" opens at the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona on October 23, 2009 followed by the opening of "Ray Johnson. Please Add to & Return" on November 6th. Both shows will close on January 10, 2010.

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