notes on andy warhol and god

from the religous art of andy warhol jane daggett dillenberger

during the 1970s, years of exraordinary productivity for Warhol in film, silkscreened works, his magazine, interview adn the writing of his book, the philosophy of andy warhol, andy lived quietly in his home and frequented the chuch of st vincent ferrer for sunday mass and for several visits during the week. Father Sam MAtarazza, a Domincan and the prior of St Vincent for Sunday Mass, and for several visits during the weekand sat or kenlt alone in the shadows at the back of the church. it was apparent that he did not want ot be recognized Father Matarazzo said that Warhol's spirituality was private even within the cofines of his pustling parish chruch...he speculated that "Warhol was bonding with a god and a christ above and beyond the church"; he remarked that Warhol's life was abosultely irreconsialbe" wit h the teachings of the Catholic Church. Many gay men, he said , were in his congregation, in spire of the fact that he preaxched the catholic churches oppostion ot homsexual practices frequently" (33)

beside his bed, vcr, camera, teleision, books, videos, russel pottery, limoge candel holders, three portpurri bowls, 19th century butch side table, new mexican cross, folk art pictue of a cat, small clock (watchworks) small clock (electronic), remote, atari, large cermaic plant stand in the shape of a stump. mother and two chidren in golden triangle, american--resembling he implied madonna of certain french paitings of the same time (esp. marie louise elsabeth vige leburn the artist and her daughter), modernist lamp, etc etc. (photo from page 34)

Warho's closest associates and helpers at the Factory (and then at the office, as it was called when Andy Warhol Enerprises moved to 860 Broadway), were Catholics, but most were dropouts from the Catholic Church (35)

Modern Madonna--1980-1981
penicl drawing, both tracing and free drawing, from a variety of sources, inspired from viewing madonna latata (sp) in a paris book shop, more explicitly sexualised, with contemparary hair, classic drapery at the base, small and occasional.

the last supper (wise potato chips) 1986

the wise owl can be considered:
the all seeing eye of god
the commerical interefence on the spiritual
a rejection of standard icongorpahies
connencted to the cosmic via the blue tone, cf the virgin mary, the idea of skies, etc etc.
overly large and obscuring large portions, including st john

Somebody with a Body
close to his earlier work
related to issues of copreality
with the placement of a phyiscal body over christ, and with the idea of "be somebody with a body", connects, ad nliteralises transsub.
erotic again ? (a queering heriatige?)
two, almsot a narrative, where the image of christ, and half the arm of andrew, is beside the body buliding image, and one hwere the image is one top, like it slides over--like it works as a lens, a screen, a frame, an interpretive (inter)text--the body image, the source material, etc--retain the earliest pop, and the transition b/w prepop and postpop, and so perhaps considering the religous work at the end of his life as autobio.

The LAst Supper (Dove)
(several images of this)
(field being standard vasari enclyopedia last supper)
diagram)

B 59 cent sign, G
L iconograph of Dove E
A Dove Soap
N
K

there are five centeral compoments then

the fading and blankness on the left side
the 59 cent sign
the iconogrpah of the dove
the dove font
and the GE power logo.

Each of those---
the fading and the blankness:
talking about a sui gensis god
about creation out of noting
about the eventual decay of life
the sadness of it
(formal and practical concerns as well, shitty silkscreening made portentous)

The 59 cent sign
its bright red
it makes common the idea of the last supper
it connects the idea of the bread of life to pop consuambels
it seems the most cryptic, the msot out of place.

the iconogrpah of the dove:
from dillenberger "some will remember the adage "cleaniness is next to godliness" (my note:protestant, not catholic--but the hygeine and obsessive desire for cleaniness is warholian). Signifigantly, the dove leviates above the head of Jesus, Andy was damilae with all the scriptual readings for the church year from his attendace at (his home church) while fowing up and from his regular church going in New York (cf Luke 3:21--22)" (93)--which is not frequently connected to the crucifxion, but does neatly complete the narrative, ie the consumation of his realtionship---also note the mural on the nave, at St John Chrystomom Byzantine is one of the mural, the one that is closest to the eye level of the viewer, the one that descends from the blue heaven of the dome, onto a madonna.

The Dove Font
logos--making language connected to the idea of god (cf john 1:1)

GE
going back to dillenberger--"We bring good to light can be seen as a metapjhor for creation, when god sperated lgiht and darkness and found his creation to be "good": God brings good things to light. GE as a symbol for the creator, the dove for the holy spirt and jesus here dileanted at the las supper--the t hree make up the holy trinity..."

Andy Warhol and Jean Michael Basquit
Ten Punching Bags (w. Chrsit for the LAst Supper)
the work done here, the p[unching bags could be considered symbolic of the humilation and violent tortue of christ, the assailing of the bags, the assialing of the face and the image becoming christ itself.
but the power is also, of two marganlized people, upset and angry at the church of christ--all ten of the bags contain the word judge, and also things like shit judge, cross hairs, black iconogrpahs covering hymanitry, and also cryptic words like absestos and lead--things meant to protect from the flames of the spirit (?)

Pink Last Supper
faggot expolsion of desire for religous salvation. and also a fashionable coolour comob both in warhols growing up years and his in the 80s when the work was created

Red Last Supper
10 panels, each with definite splits
(uprigight, out of sequence, upside down, central and right side up, central and right side up, upside down version of the last, upside version of the last, shadow of the first panel, upsside down shadow of the two middle panels)
blood red, thirty feet long, undulating, the colour of course is v, obv. blood of the lamb type stuff, arresting but perhaps formaly weakest.

Camafaluge Christ
continuing of the two patterns he was workng one, accents as opposed to hide christs presence, the shape of the camafaluge matching the rises and falls of the work.

From Andy Warhol as Priest.
P A P E Kattenberg.

In the disaser SEries Warhol showed the brutal facts of accident and mortality. In interpeting Warhols pictures as representive of human emotions like pain and suffering...(63)

Robert Hughes: (Warhol) offered them absoultionn ,the gaze of the blank mirror that refuses all judgement. In the way the factory resemeled a sect, a parody of CAtholicimss eneacted (not acceidtnlly_ by people who were of had been Catholic, from Warhal and GErad Malingan on down. In it, the ritual os Dandyism could speed up to gibberish and show what they had become--a hunger for approval and forgiveness...(ibid)

(logo/s logos)

"he superimposed the logos Dove and GE onto Christ and his disciples. Here he seems to reger to the replacement of eligous fetishism in contermporary society with commodity fetishism, of which, as a devout catholic who was also a compulisve shopper he certainly would have been aware, the 59 cent painted on a red background in the upper left suggests selling out to the devil, apparently referring to Judas as well as our contempeary socieity..." (117)

Books to Read:
Terry Atkinson--Art Has No History, London, 1994
Andy Warhol Paintings 1960-1986, Sttutagart
Michel Foccualt--This is Not a Pipe
Hal Foster--Compulsive Beauty
john richardson eulogy for andy
(where do i get old sothebys catalogs)
Steven Aronsaon said that "Warhol bopught dozens of 18th and 19th century crucifxes and santos, three or four at a time)