Andy Warhol show at the DeYoung

My Dad and I just saw the Andy Warhol show at the DeYoung museum in San Francisco. The show's huge, filled with artifacts from the Factory, studio 54 and the music scene of the day.


Dad loved it, I think that it brought him back to the 1960's and his youth. But for me, the work on view seemed like the debris left over from somebody else's party. Obviously a very good party, and Warhol must have been an amazing impresario.

But the show left the impression that he wasn't much more than that.

Taken as art objects rather than pop culture ephemera, almost nothing stands out. Maybe the Brillo boxes, maybe the Sticky Fingers album cover, but even those aren't amazing, they're just mildly noteworthy.

I get the sense that you really had to be there to appreciate what his work represents. For those of us born afterwards it's more historical curiosity than it is affecting artwork.