In commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the
death Andy Warhol, the most influential artist of the late 20thcentury, a selected number of his films are displayed in Osage Gallery, Kwun
Tong. Meanwhile, in “Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternity” exhibition, more than
370 objects by Warhol was shown in Hong Kong Museum of Art.
In 1960s, Warhol continued to paint and attempted to make a name for himself in pop art, simultaneously, he started to make films. From 1963 to 1968, he made nearly 60 films.
Sleep
Sleep is one of Warhol’s first films. The film showcases
Warhol’s close friend, the poet John Giorno, sleeping for 8 hours. Unlike other
ordinary films screening in cinemas, sleep focuses on a man’s sleeping process
and there is no plot, no other characters, no obvious body movement and no
sound. Shot sometimes changes to close-up of the man’s head, abdomen or other
parts of his body. I do some research and find something interesting. According
to the reporting by a manager, the theater was in chaos during the screening of
the film. The static shot of one man’s asleep seemed to be endless, irritating
the audiences that they left, they yelled and they asked for their money back. Though
I was not in the theater that night, I am sure the chaotic scene audiences
created must be well-worth watching while comparing to the film itself. The
audiences’ responses were expected since if I were one of them I might also
behave like that. However, something is expectable does not mean it is reasonable.
Why did people have those manners and behaviors even they had know the film was
strange and unusual? What made people cannot tolerate the longtime sleeping
scene displaying something everyone would do every day? What did people think a
film should be like?
Giorno was first asked to be filmed sleeping just after Warhol had purchased his 16mm Bolex, and the shooting began in his apartment in 1963 summer. The film, and also the later similar ones with different theme, such as Kiss (1963) and Eat(1964), were all give a name “anti-films", that challenged the conventions of the filmmaking. Warhol has said:
there was more awake
time for them to happen in (since so many people were
on amphetamine), or
if people started taking amphetamine because there were
so many things to
do that they needed to have more awake time to do them in...
Seeing everybody
so up all the time made me think that sleep was becoming
pretty obsolete,
so I decided I'd better quickly do a movie of a person sleeping.
Sleep was the first movie I made when I got my 16mm Bolex."
From his words, it is apparent that the anti-film, Sleep, except challenging the filmmaking, challenged the acceptance and patience of the audiences, also the mental state of people in 1960s as well.
Above is the film, Kiss, shot later after sleep, involving the homosexual, bisexual or heterosexual couples. In 1960s US, i believe the bisexuality and homosexuality are some irritating issues in the society, indicating the avant-grade of his theme. Kissing is the couples’ only behavior on the screen, that make their love pure, simple but not naive and eternal.
Outer and Inner Space
What first attracted me was not the film itself but the girl
cast in the film Edie Sedgwick. With her thick, black kohl eyeliner, bouffant
short hair and enormous antique earrings dripping priceless jewels, she creates
her own unique style and easily draws anyone’s attention. When watching the
film, if you are careless like me, you may misunderstand that Edie is talking
to someone. She keeps talking, sometimes draws on her cigarette, laughs or pulls
a face. All her responses are perfectly pleasing that it is difficult to tear
my eyes from the screen. Also because in this version we cannot hear what Edie
is saying, we can only guess through her expressions and movements. But later I
discovered that Edie is actually talking to no one but just responding in real
time to her video image!! And that is why the film has such a name, “outer and
inner space”.
Between 1964 and 1966, the pop artist shot approach to 500 short movies — the so-called “screen tests”, of Warhol's friends, celebrities and models. We can find the trace of Edie, the factory girl.
When I started watching this film, what I saw is a man’s face
and he is enjoying something. After I read the name of the film, blow job, the
man’s facial expression can be explained. Audiences cannot hear the man
groaning, but they know he is enchanted. Standing before the screen (in front
of the man) and watching him receiving oral sex, the audience seems to be the
person giving a blow job to the man.
The person getting the blow job in the film was DeVerne Bookwalter. However he was not the original person planned for the casting. The original one was called Charles Rydell, who had agreed to be filmed, even understanding that he had to show his face and accept five different boys keep on blowing him until he came. But finally, he did not show up for the shoot while all the machines and boys were ready. i quit to find out the fact if five boys or the paid prostitutes gave the job or even no one did that finally. All are left to imagination.
MAO Tse Tung (1972)
MAO Tse Tung (1972)
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| MAO Tse Tung 1972 |
As everyone knows, Warhol was adept in using technique of
acrylic and silkscreen-ink on canvas create art pieces, including portraits of
celebrities, such as the Chairman of the Communist Party of China, Mao Tse
Tung, the major sex symbol, Monroe Marilyn and the former first lady of United
States, Jacqueline Kennedy. The portraits are shown in “Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes
Eternity” opened in Hong Kong, especially the ones of Mao Tse Tung which are
rejected to be exhibited in China.
In 1972, after U.S. president Richard Nixon’s visit to
China, Warhol created these astonishingly brilliant images of Mao using
changeable colors. However some people consider these portraits are
disrespectful since Mao seems to wear cosmetics, leading the portraits banned
by China. In fact, not only Mao’s portraits, many art pieces by other artists
involving in political or other sensitive issues would be controversial and arouse
people’s concerns. Artwork is often used as a medium to transmit information,
critique or record something worth memorizing, etc.
Campbell's Soup Cans (1962)
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| Campbell's Soup Cans(1) |
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| Campbell's Soup Cans(2) |
Self-Portraits
Throughout his life, Warhol often played up his unusual looks and pale complexion to startling effect. Above are his last self-portraits, just made in the year before his death, draw particular attention to his exaggerated wig. Besides making a name for himself in pop art, Warhol established himself in the public eye as the most famous Pop artist via his different images. As what he said,
‘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.’
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| self-portraits(1) |
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| self-portrait (2) |
Throughout his life, Warhol often played up his unusual looks and pale complexion to startling effect. Above are his last self-portraits, just made in the year before his death, draw particular attention to his exaggerated wig. Besides making a name for himself in pop art, Warhol established himself in the public eye as the most famous Pop artist via his different images. As what he said,
‘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.’
Then how much can you know about him, after seeing so many pieces by him. I would pretend to say, ' very little', that i can have an excuse to memorize this leading figure of Popism and his works.
