Warhol Revisited

Actress Candy Darling 

Years ago, I joined several transgender friends for a short drive to The Ohio State University for an exhibit they were hosting on the works of  Andy Warhol. 

To begin with I made the decision to not wear heels like most of the other friends I went with.  Since I had some sort of an idea of where the exhibit would be on the spacious Ohio State campus the decision saved me quite a bit of pain. While my friends were crippled, I was comfortable in my flats. Probably, most importantly, I was able to enjoy most all of Warhol's varied works I saw, not just his transgender followers.  

Such as, at the time, we knew of the connections between transgender women and Warhol. Specifically the beautiful trans actress "Candy Darling" who tragically died at the age of thirty from lymphoma in New York City. Not being totally into the Warhol at the time, I really had no idea of everything the artist was into. The exhibit was massive and quickly a few of my friends seemed to be getting bored. So much, to my chagrin one of the trans women flashed the world on an escalator between floors when I was immediately behind her. Fortunately, no one seemed to notice her obscene act and no harm was done. From then on, I kept my distance since the exhibit's audience included many kids. As far as the public was concerned, they were not paying us any attention and I wanted to keep it that way.

From then on my bored trans friends decided upon leaving Warhol behind and going to a nearby gay venue. Following my experience with one of the women at the exhibit, I wondered how she would act following a couple of drinks so I did my best to again distance myself from her at the bar. Plus, I knew from my experiences in male gay venues, most of the other clientele would not be interested in her and her new genitals anyhow. 

From then on, since we had nearly a forty five minute drive home from Ohio State, we didn't stay too long and headed for home.

Far from being any sort of an art critic at all, I was surprised how interested I was in the entire collection of Warhol's work. As far as the rest of the transgender women I went with, I never saw a couple of them again and just stayed in contact with Racquel who I mention here fairly often. I always respected her for her trans journey to living an authentic life. 

If I had the chance, I would revisit Warhol again and I am sure my wife Liz would also. She is much more an appreciator of the arts than I am. Sadly today, with my mobility issues, I would struggle to enjoy his work again.    

 

Andy Warhol

Candy Darling Warhol Model

Several years ago I was able to view a very large collection of artist Andy Warhol's work at The Ohio State University. So large, it almost would have taken more than one visit to do it justice. Recently I received an invite that I thought I would pass along to all of you:

"Hi - my name is Alonzo, and I work at Artsy. While researching Andy Warhol, I found your page: http://cyrstiscondo-cyrsti.blogspot.com/2013/01/pejic-meets-warhol.html. 

I am reaching out to certain website and blog owners that publish content in line with our mission to make all the world’s art accessible to anyone. We hope to continue promoting arts education and accessibility with your help. 

Our Andy Warhol page provides visitors with Warhol's bio, over 1660 of his works, exclusive articles, and up-to-date Warhol exhibition listings. The page also includes related artists and categories, allowing viewers to discover art beyond our Warhol page. We would love to be included as an additional resource for your visitors via a link on your page."

Please check our blog list for a permanent link or follow the one above.

Thanks Alonzo!

Sweet Candy

Several years ago Columbus and The Ohio State University hosted a huge Andy Warhol exhibit which even encouraged guests to come in drag one of the days! I was fairly certain I would never see a public invitation like that in my life.
Of course I thought I knew quite a bit about Warhol's story and work but came away from the exhibit thinking I knew very little.

Many photographers have documented the Warhol 1970's era in New York City but not with the stark black and white quality of a man we have mentioned here in Cyrsti's Condo before- Peter Hujar 
He was an openly gay man who lived during the AIDS crisis.  Hujar photographed transsexuals, drag queens and icons of gay community.  The portraits have been compiled into an exhibit at the Pace/MacGill Gallery in NYC. Hujar died at the age of 53 in November 1987 of complications from AIDS.

To our left is the classic "death bed" picture of transsexual icon Candy Darling by Hujar.

For more of Hujar's other work go here.

Classic "Candy"

Could not resist passing along another  "Candy Darling" pix.
 For those of you who remember "Kim Novak", she was one of Candy Darling's idols and for good reason! She was another of the "blond bombshells"of the 50's.

Candy Anyone?

"Candy Darling  and Jeremiah Newton"
Photo by Francis Ng.

A new documentary film on the life of the "Warhol" superstar "Candy Darling" is being released.
Unfortunately in my conservative part of the world, I don't see any locations listed.
Nearby Columbus was a little of a surprise. With a large gay community and the former host to a fabulous "Warhol" exhibit, I thought there might be a chance!