Foot, Foot & Foot
I walked into the gallery and saw drawing after drawing of feet. Fifty eight of them to be exact! Somebody obviously has a foot fetish. It actually looked like a collection of studies that you’d find in an art class in the neighborhood. Some of them were actually quite good. Others were a bit “eh” (a technical art term just in case you didn’t know – usually accompanied with a shrug of one shoulder, a raise of the eyebrows and maybe a raise of the upper left lip too – I hope you get the picture.)
This artist obviously knows a lot of people with flat feet and very few with pretty feet – although that probably goes without saying for the general public. I spend quite a lot on pedicures, but I’m not sure that I would want to subject them to this sort of scrutiny! Or maybe the artist took some artistic license?
These feet which are drawn with a wide range of plants, objects and patterns provide a “whimsical and intimate glimpse into the artist’s private life, while also testifying to his compositional wit and poetic hand” according to the press release. These sketches were done by Andy Warhol between 1956 and 1961.
The sketches have been taken from Warhol’s personal sketchbooks. I wonder if he knew that these would be publicly shown? Would he have minded? Probably not. This is the man who coined the term everybody gets to be “world famous for 15 minutes”.
Would these sketches have been in a Chelsea gallery if they were anybody else’s? Probably not. They’re there because they’re Andy Warhol’s. The interest in the minutiae of celebrities probably started around this time. I suppose that’s why memorabilia of celebrities including dirty laundry, household items and everything else that they ever touched (or didn’t) sell and stories about their personal lives keeps magazines and “news” outlets alive.
The exhibition which was organized in conjunction with the Andy Warhol Foundation is only open until February 6th, but a full illustrated catalogue is available at the Paul Kasmin Gallery and their web page has a comprehensive slide show if you missed it.
N.B. The above image is by Andy Warhol, courtesy of the Paul Kasmin Gallery.
