The Two Faces of Andy Warhol

At last someone noticed. There is a huge difference between the Warhol of the 1960s--the great visual poet of pop--and the post-1960s shallow huckster Warhol who set the tone for Richard Prince, Jeff Koons and all that is wrong with so much of the money-obsessed contemporary art world.

16 Jackies, 1964

 "...Since his death, critics and curators have revealed more and more that is impressive about Warhol. He really did, at his best, have an extraordinary vision of modern life. But the Warhol redemption has reached saturation point. You can feel that in the current Hayward Gallery exhibition, Invisible, in which the weakest (works) just seem glib. Even... by the end of the 60s, Warhol is churning out print runs that recreate his early Campbell's soup paintings. The sweet pedantry of the originals is replaced by glossy production values and easy money. The desire to exploit his own fame is not even concealed. Here we start to see Bad Andy, the source of so much that is cynical and empty in the art of today."  More>>