Nothing special: Warhol’s childhood scrapbook

Andy Warhol’s Childhood Scrapbook may be understood as the germ of a number of themes and obsessions that underscore the majority of Warhol’s adult life from the fascination with Hollywood and stardom to the way in which the scrapbook is organised through uniformity, seriality, and an overt mechanical reproduction through the mass produced studio portraits of film stars.

Self-portrait in Drag

With her cropped blonde wig and horizontal striped shirt, it seems as if Cindy Sherman is impersonating Andy Warhol impersonating a woman: heads cocked back, full slightly parted lips, and cool unwavering stares, although Warhol’s seems a bit more vacant. Sherman’s character is just as beautiful, but she knows it; maybe she has had more practice.

Framing a Research Question, Part 2

In addition to what Hugh posted a couple days ago, I’m further updating people (as promised in the Mixed Berry Shake June 2014 hangout) on what we’re doing in the MOOC Understanding Research Methods via Coursera. Here is a link to the question Hugh is developing and some discussion around it: How do Arabian women artists …

Ethel Scull 36 Times

Warhol took Ethel Scull to an amusement arcade in Times Square and photographed her in a photo booth, creating twenty-four sheets of photographs. She initially protested but gradually began to enjoy herself, at least partly because Warhol was continuously tickling her. Ethel Scull reportedly said “What I liked about it mostly was that it was a portrait of being alive.”