Warhol exhibition in Edinburgh

gordon · Post by **gordon** » 15 Aug 2007 17:37

dont think this fine exhibition has been mentioned yet. I went today and it was just great - almost overwhelming initially.
A room full of "skull"s
A room full of silver cloud balloons (with instruction to "interact gently with the exhibit")
A gallery full of Cow Wallpaper
"Screen Tests" showing in 3 different places: 3 of Lou, 2 of which I'd never seen before. One had Lou in profile, slowly eating an apple, and the other had him slowly (and sleazily) drinking coke from a bottle.

Also on show were the very interesting contents of 2 of Andy's "Time Capsules". One of these contained the following:
A letter from Philip Johnson to Andy re the VU appearance at his Glass House in July 1967. It says "Furious about the police. The music was glorious and would have been gloriouser." (Cue gnashing of teeth as we remember that a film crew were in attendance, but somehow managed to avoid getting any images of the VU onto celluloid.). It reads to me as if the police were called to attend and had taken offence at the VU's performance.
Also an Ampex/Verve royalty statement and check for $95.61 made out to "Three Prong Music Inc", and covering the 2nd quarter of 1968. It documents a rate of $0.02 per song per unit sold, except for "The Gift" which earns them $0.0225. The statement covers the songs on "WL/WH" and "Chelsea Girls" and records that "Chelsea" shifted 3 (yes - 3) copies in the period covered, and that WL/WH shifted a total of 778 units. No wonder the band were always broke.

Fascinating stuff. I'd strongly recommend a visit if you're in Scotland. And only ?8 to get in.

taxine · Post by **taxine** » 16 Aug 2007 12:29

Yes, great exhibition how I'd wish to be there but right now can't afford travelling to Scotland (adore cow wallpaper) with very interesting stuff and covering VU. times you're a lucky guy gordon.
Hope that this fall I can attend it here at Guggenheim like some years ago with ''Andy Warhol and the Factory''.
And many thanks for the information.............

Pernod time · Post by **Pernod time** » 18 Aug 2007 18:33

I will go this week to Warhol, Edinburgh is the best city in the world during the festival.
My band will play during the last week of the festival, come along if you are in Edinburgh
http://profile.myspace.com/kurtzmuzik

Mark · Post by **Mark** » 21 Aug 2007 01:39

I happened to be in Edinburgh this weekend so got the chance to call into the exhibition this afternoon. Would echo all that Gordon has said - even putting aside the VU connections, it's a great insight into a really interesting body of work. I only got about an hour to look around before I had to get my train back home, but could have spent many times longer there. I'd recommend it to anyone.

I also got a (crap quality) cameraphone photo of that Ampex royalty statement. Will post it if I can find a pain-free way of getting pictures off my camera and onto the computer...

taxine · Post by **taxine** » 21 Aug 2007 14:00

Great , Mark looking forward to see your pictures.

Pernod time · Post by **Pernod time** » 25 Aug 2007 14:19

The exhibition is superb, it underlines just how influential Warhol is, to the imagination of the age. A truly visionary artist.
Playing with the silver cloud balloons was certainly a dreamlike Velvets moment. Dont miss it if you have a chance.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » 04 Sep 2007 18:13

OK, here is the world-famous Ampex paycheck from 1968. Not very clear, although it helps if you go to All Sizes > Original. If you still can't read it, the long and short is that they didn't sell many records!

gordon · Post by **gordon** » 04 Sep 2007 18:25

well done Mark!

If you look very closely, on the right hand side of the pic you can see part of the letter from Philp Johnson to Andy about the VU appearance at his Glass House....