I'm a big fan of both the man and the movement. So, when I went to check out the latest fashion at my local GAP branch - 'twas not the clothes that caught me eye.
Image source: GAP storefront in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
In the window are two famous Andy Warhol works: a self portrait and Judith Green (1964). The lighting and attributions in the bottom left corners of each window certainly create a museum like display. However (and this is what really gets me heated), they have their clothes covering it up!
I almost cannot be mad at The GAP, for they are a capitalistic enterprise and have their own agenda. But what of the Andy Warhol Foundation? Surely they would know better than to spit in the face of a dead man?
What made Andy Warhol remarkable was his uncanny ability to re-appropriate images into a new light. He made a career of taking images from media and advertising that we had become desensitized to, and forcing the them back into our conscious perception.
The Andy Warhol Foundation, who licenses his work and image for distribution, effectively reversed him and his work; have made him a commodity; have made his image insignificant in light of the colorful new clothes.
The Gap is not the first or the last example of this, but... it's still fucked up!
Let them have a piece of your mind!
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