Watching from the Wings (Mar/Apr 1999) - All Together Carnegie Museums

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A Minister’s Opinion

Life
is a struggle for most of us. A struggle to survive. A struggle
to succeed. According to the adage, only the fittest will survive.
Andy Warhol and his friend Jean-Michel Basquiat understood this when they
produced the collaborative piece Ten Punching Bags. Their efforts
have touched the Reverend Dr. Harold T. Lewis, Rector of Cavalry Episcopal
Church in Pittsburgh. For him, the struggle goes far beyond earthly
matters.
This provocative, disturbing and challenging
work is a study in juxtapositions, paradoxes, contradictions. But
that is exactly what Christianity, a religion that claims that God took
on human form, died and was raised from the dead, claims to be. I think
Warhol chose punching bags to portray Jesus as taking the blows (read bearing
the sins) of humankind. That there are ten of them suggests both
the Ten Commandments and the ten lepers (outcasts) whom Jesus cleansed
(Mark 10:41). Onto Warhols serene images of a DaVinci-esque Christ, Basquiat
superimposes his own images, both religious (a crown, a Root of Jesse.
Trinitarian symbols) and secular (lead, asbestos, a gallows, a dilapidated
football stadium). Jesus the Judge is himself judged by the squalor
of urban poverty.

Watching from the Wings: Warhol and
Dance

Andy Warhol was a great fan and supporter
of all things dance, so it would seem only natural that this museum should
present an exhibition entitled Watching from the Wings: Warhol and Dance.
What might seem a little less natural (i.e., less traditional) are the
perspectives of dance and dancers which the series offers the public.
The exhibition features dance images (drawings,
illustrations, portraits) by Warhol and pictures by famed 30s and 40s
dance photographer George Platt Lynes. The placement of a dance floor
within the show adds a dynamic element to the exhibition.
Museum visitors will be able to view dancers
in rehearsal, allowing them a behind-the-scenes perspective that
a staged performance would not. This allows the audience to take
a voyeuristic part in the creative progress of the work.
Opening on February 28 (7:00-9:00 p.m.)
with a performance by local dance company Dance Alloy, the installation
aims to promote an alternative approach to looking at dance. Tickets are
$10.00.
Other scheduled events in the series include
the Pittsburgh Dance Councils Choreographers Continuum, a master class
with David Parsons, performances by the Pittsburgh Ballet, LABCO, and many
others. The Dance Alloy returns in a special artists-in -residence
project with Off the Wall: Dance Alloy at The Warhol. These performances
will be at the museum during regular hours from May 5-9.
Watching from the Wings runs from February
28 through May 23, 1999.
Jordan Weeks

Go to Andy
Warhol Museum homepage.

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