Restricted Frequency #133
Reviewing Andy Warhol's Popism, The Solar Grid Soundscape, art-sale, and moving the newsletter.
1.
You may notice something different about this edition, and that’s probably due to my moving the service from Mailchimp to Substack.
Substack is somewhat limited in how you can go about designing your newsletter, but given the toned down design of RESTRICTED FREQUENCY in recent editions, I think we can work just fine within Substack’s limitations.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the change of service doesn’t result in this edition landing in your spam folder. If it does, please be sure to add the new sending address (ganzeer@substack.com) to your contact list (unless of course, the thought of not getting this newsletter comes as a sick relief).
Okay, now that housekeeping is out of the way, on with the fun stuff.
2.
The second track in THE SOLAR GRID SOUNDSCAPE, a serialized album by N Slash A has dropped! Moody textural sound art goodness.
In case you missed it, The Solar Grid Soundscape is the auditory companion to The Solar Grid Graphic Novel, with tracks being released as N Slash A finishes them. Sort of along the same lines of my method for working on graphic novel. I absolutely love what he’s doing, and with each listen I always notice new stuff - which, I guess is also kind of like the graphic novel.
3.
In most of his interviews, Andy Warhol wasn’t very talkative and came off as hella awkward while simultaneously being kinda snarky, often dicking interviewers around. So it’s quite refreshing to be getting his take on things in his own voice. 300 pages of it, no less. Sure, you can bet the actual writing was done by Pat Hacket, but you can be equally sure that the voice behind the writing belongs to no one but Andy Warhol.
“Very few people on the [West] Coast knew or cared about contemporary art, and the press for my show wasn’t too good. I always have a laugh, though, when I think of how Hollywood called Pop Art a put-on! Hollywood?? I mean, when you look at the kind of movies they were making then–those were supposed to be real??”
It’s also nice to see him recount his transition from his commercial art practice to his early beginning within the gallery circuit– when he was still not quite sure of himself– before he became a superstar and way before his studio became the go-to place for every major counter-cultural figure in America.
“By the time Ivan [Karp] (who worked at Leo Castelli Gallery) introduced me to Henry [Geldzahler] (who at the time was a new young ‘curatorial-assistant-with-no-specific-duties’) I was keeping my commercial drawings absolutely buried in another part of the house because one of the people Ivan had brought by before had remembered me from my commercial art days and asked to see some drawings. As soon as I showed them to him, his whole attitude toward me changed. I could actually see him changing his mind about my paintings, so from then on I decided to have a firm no-show policy about the drawings. Even with Henry, it was a couple of months before I was secure enough about his mentality to show them to him.”
But if it’s the explosive Factory years you’re interested in, rest assured there’s plenty of that as well. One of the best things about this book though is Warhol’s observations about the times. Because that is very much what the book is: a window onto the 1960’s through they eyes and words of Andy Warhol. It starts off in 1960 and ends in 1969. By all accounts the 60’s was a very special decade in America, and Warhol’s retelling definitely drives the point home
Read full review of [Popism: The Warhol 60’s - by Andy Warhol and Pat Hackett].
4.
It’s that time of the year when I need to clear up space to make room for new art, so I’m doing a sale on these bad boys right here:
To the left is a screenprinted version of the cover I designed for the Arabic edition of Slavoj Zizek’s THE YEAR OF DREAMING DANGEROUSLY, published by Dar El-Tanweer in Cairo back in 2013.
To the right is a graphic I created in support of Pussy Riot when they were arrested in 2012, after their little cathedral intervention.
Both are approximately 11x17 in (28x43 cm), signed and numbered on the back and going for $50. As I type this, there are only about 13 left of each and they will never be reproduced again.
Snatch ‘em while they last (And if you want them signed on the front, please leave a note upon checkout).
That’s all for this edition. Enjoy your weekend and be kind to animals. Even if they insist on taunting you right outside your window, whichever city or state you live in.
Till next week,
Ganzeer
August 23, 2019
Houston, TX