THE 1980'S

The Brooklyn show features clips from Andy Warhol's TV and copies of Interview magazine (which he founded), showing us that, good or bad, Andy's vision was big and complex. If Marcel Duchamp was the art world's Einstein, Warhol used his formula to make the bomb, and changed the art world forever.This doesn't mean, though, that all the work is good. For example the "black and white ads" series on view at Brooklyn is a return to some of his earlier work. (They are images of newspaper ads for soup, or for "99-cent steaks" or "$24.99 Pumas.") The works are hand-painted, we are often told. Why that would matter is the real question, since Warhol's great works were screened, not painted. Who cares if he painted them? I don't. This series is dry and lacks any energy; I've never liked them, and even in the show they still fall flat. Swiss art dealer Bruno Bischofberger once said that some of the paintings look as if they are waiting for Jean-Michel Basquiat to apply some colorful faces and words, and he's right. I do not subscribe to the view that every late picture is a great picture; in fact, much of the late work is tired, lifeless and mechanical-but the exceptional pieces here are some of Warhol's best.

New York Observer
August 10 2010