THE WIZARD OF OZ

-You immediately know you have left Kansas for Oz upon entering the neon-coloured, achingly nostalgic Andy Warhol exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Visitors to the first room in the exhibition, Warhol Live, are greeted by a recording of Judy Garland singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow, the theme song from the Hollywood musical, The Wizard of Oz. Covering the walls are images of Garland and her most famous daughter, Liza Minnelli, another pill-popping diva turned disaster.Somewhere Over the Rainbow was also, in many ways, the theme song of Warhol, the young man who left Kansas (Pittsburgh, actually) and went to Oz (New York) in 1949 to lead a fairy-tale existence that eventually saw him reign over the international art world in the second half of the 20th century, just as Pablo Picasso dominated the first half.

-Ottawa Citizen
Oct 11 2008