If you are interested in art history, and the evolution of popular culture, then The Warhol Diaries on Netflix is a must see. And it doesn’t matter if you aren’t a Warhol fan because the series is an interwoven fabric of so much more than Warhol-phobia-mania. The series encapsulates the art, the politics, the phenomenon of a decade that is one of the most important singular moments in the history of American art (culture). It also gets at Andy Warhol, the person, as opposed to Warhol the personality (which is a layer of Warhol that I was delighted to add to what I know of him). The AI recreation of his voice is a wonderful touch, too. The series is an illuminating, tender and insightful love story. There is no denying that Warhol (flawed like anybody) had insight. I look around at so much of today and think, “Now is the 80s shot out of a sawed-off shotgun.” Many of today’s movements have been germinating for a long time. The culture politics are out of the closet, now—out of the back rooms—out of double barrels, scattered like buckshot. What have segments of generations younger than Gen Xer’s like me learned? Time and quality of life is perhaps more important than the cult of work; love is love; identity is; diversity, equity and inclusion make the culture stronger, happier, healthier. This of course is me reflecting my beliefs and politics through what I see occurring. The Mills and Zs, who rightfully do not like to be labeled, fill me with hope, like the 80s once did, despite its political leaders.
#andywarhol #andywarholdiaries #80s #americanart #popularculture “PopArt #GenX #genxers #warhol
Andy Warhol’s “Self-Portrait With Skull,” 1977, photograph