Lots of
travel this week – if you’re not on a deadline, please take a detour to
Columbia, SC. Their state Art Museum was
gifted a complete set (ten) of Andy Warhol’s Chairman Mao (look up The Chairman
and his Little Red Book). To celebrate they have a small (fifty pieces)
but juicy exhibit of Warhol’s portraits exploring America’s obsession with the
World Famous.
You’ll find
many techniques and subject matter Andy first showed us deeply embedded today's popular world culture..
I ran hot and
cold on Warhol, but this exhibit (especially a series of Mohammed Ali) greatly raised
my esteem of Andy as both artist and print maker.
It’s $12 (probably
student discount), parking’s on the street. Beautiful reviving Main Street
with a few fun stores and a place called Mike’s great for
food runs alongside . If you have
time, Columbia’s a great little city detour. Fun little zoo, botanical gardens along
the river walk w/zip lines and (if you’re a fan), The original Piggy Park with
Maurice’s mustard style bbq. (Don't bother with the satellite stores all over town - Piggy Park's the deal.)
The
Warhol exhibit is the draw – you see so much of his innovation imitated
(badly) in consumer work – and some B2B. As Kleon says, Steal Like an Artist. Study
the original – Get the inspiration to concept your version of Andy, not an
imitator of a trend of imitators. Look
closely – the magic is in the details.
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