DIANNE LYNN BENANTI
ANDY WARHOL
Drifting into the field of flowers and Andy Warhol is in full bloom. ~ DIANNE LYNN BENANTI
"THE FIRST DATE"
"DRELLA"
The Gunshot Wounds of 1968
Valerie Solana found her way into The Factory. The home base for Andy and his worker bees. She was brazen. She was deranged. She wanted to kill Andy Warhol.
​Andy was obsessed with stardom and celebrities. ​Nothing has changed when it comes to the eyes of a camera and waif like bodies that pull off the
looks that we all seem to admire. It was no different for Andy Warhol. He had to stay rail thin.
Andy was on a drug called Obetrol, an amphetamine that he consumed on a daily basis. With most drugs, this leads to mood swings and abusive behaviors. Nothing was ever quite good enough in his eyes. He was talented but also very well known for plagiarism. Now all this being mentioned creates many layers of human nature.
​​​So for now, we will focus on the empathies in life. A wonderful docuseries shown on Netflix; "The Andy Warhol Diaries".
Beautifully directed by Andrew Rossi.​
The vulnerability of love that Warhol attempted to share in a very awkward world was brilliantly captured by Rossi.
Life, as many of us will come to realize, you blink and another decade turns...Andy Warhol was 40 years old when he was shot down that day in 1968.
By 56, with side effects of drug use, poor diet and continuous surgeries from the aftermath of Valerie Solana, a surgery ended his life at 58 years of age. He passed away on Feb 22nd, 1987 .
WARHOL HANGING OUT WITH KUSAMA'S CAT
PUCKER UP BUTTER CUP
"WELL WISHES AND GOOD FORTUNE"
CREDITS
AN ODE TO YAYOI KUSAMA
At 31 years old, Yayoi Kusama created a series of this brilliant masterpiece. *The Infinity Nets.
This is the piece that gave her some distinction when she arrived in NY.
Andy Warhol and Yayoi Kusama were the same age yet Andy's name was already established and Yayoi was scraping to stay afloat. Polkadots were her trademark but at the time she shifted into other influences.
On one of her exhibitions, (The Aggregation: 1000 boats), she created a boat and repeated its pattern and filled the walls, ceiling and floor with its image.
Warhol noticed her exhibit and complimented her on the idea. But in Warhols mind, he could take that idea and make it better. Was either of these installations a spark of genius? For me, no. Perhaps it was avant garde at the time. Perhaps they both thought they were on the cutting edge of something new. But this was not the best of either of them.
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Regardless, after hearing the praises for Andy's new work and knowing that the art crowd knew it was Kusama's idea, she was crushed. Even these images at the time show how fragile Yayoi already was while a year later, Andy's dominant stance takes precedence with his new successful exhibit. This was indeed a male dominated society.
On a brighter note, you can't help but laugh....This was also a time when both Warhol and Kusama were influenced by this strange sexual revolution that had hippy power, flower power and penis power.
Andy was taking a ton of polaroids of real penises and Yayoi was sewing them out of white pieces of cotton and making chairs and boats out of them. She called this stage, Soft Sculptures.
She was also involved with protests in public events by painting naked models in her beloved polka dots. Whether it was a part of a protest against the Vietnam war or any other activist movement, the men that were in awe of the fully nude figures weren't getting the message.
It was an odd mixture for which could be celebrated for a defining moment in time. However, the conservative nature of Japan scoffed at her. Kusama's family was humiliated. This also deeply wounded her.
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After 10 years of barely making it in New York, mentally bruised and battered, she went back home to Japan. She was 40 years old. Since then, the brilliant soul of Yayoi Kusama's work has evolved into a world of wavering swirls and countless polka dots!
If our beloved friend Andy Warhol gets a spot on Netflix, Andrew Rossi, please, Yayoi Kusama should be the next in line!
*Her beautiful painting, The Infinity Nets went up for auction in 2014. It sold for 7.4 million.
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