Ask DB1: Andy Warhol and Hipsterbaggery
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Hey DB1,
I just wanted to ask you a question about Andy Warhol, and how he is an inspiration to hipsterbags.
I mean, he had some talent, but his main talent was being a pretentious, amoral media whore who would sell his art, persona, soul, and possibly his mother’s soul to the highest bidder. Yet somehow he still maintained his status as “edgy” and “alternative”.
Is this not the ultimate goal of all hipsterbags, to sell out, make millions, and still be a pretentious jackwad? Does this not make Warhol the hipsterbag version of the Grieco?
Just wondering..
– Indiana Choad and the Temple of Douche
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I think some art critics would find the vacuity of Warhol as a performance art critique of vacuity itself, but it is an intriguing question.
Warhol would have to be considered an example of the Rockstar Leniency Rule in action, even if the Factory did contain a number of protodouches hangers-on types. When you’re a game changer as an artist or musician, leeway is granted for absurdity performed in the pursuit of artistic impact.
Same reason Salvador Dali would never be called a proto-bag despite greasy Italian facial fung reveal. And, of cours, why Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole.
Total pass for Warhol. None, however, for Julian Schnabel
I am so happy that now I don’t have to throw away my Velvet Underground or Lou Reed records. And that I don’t have to sell my Cadillac El Dorado.
Assholes.
Plus, he pulled the hotts…..
Doesn’t need a pass. HomoBeatnikBag. I am not much of an art lover unless you mean the great works of Linda Eastman, Carrot Top, and the new Rock As Art sensation, Tonetta.
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Acid Queens
I can’t hate on a guy for being a soup lover. Soupcan art blows my mind. Pass for Warhol. His hair sucked though.
I didn’t know John Corbett was an artist:
http://www.superiorpics.com/news/pic/john_corbett_001_032508.jpg
i’ve never regarded Andy Warhol as anything that exceeds today’s Hollywood milieu. too ubiquitous, too snobbish, and… stuff. therefore, DOUCHE.
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that being said, since Warhol probably died as a virgin (as there’s no evidence to prove otherwise), i’m at a loss of how to mock him properly in the context of HCwDB. so he’s got that going for him.
Pablo Picasso, however, was an asshole. just ask one of his 100 ex girlfriends.
Tonetta for President 2012.
Warhol=Gaybag. No pass for him. Son.
Growing up – or getting older – I was quite interested in several famous artists. From what I remember of my readings of said types, Warhol was far less a candidate for douche material than Pablo Picasso. However, both probably deserve a Notta.
Picasso may never have been called an asshole, but thanks to his fondness for brothels, some of his Parisian friends did refer to him as a “walking scrotum.” Seriously.
Artistic genius aside, PP had many douchey qualities.
Much better was the late Joe Strummer of The Clash, who was once referred to as “a walking middle finger.” Amen.
–nash
Warhol was first to commercialize the already commercial into an industry unto itself. That’s his claim to fame. Campbell soup cans? Child, please. However, Eight Elvises is pretty cool.
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Did we really need to see Taylor Mead’s ass? Then again Warhol was a guest star on “The Love Boat”
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Guess like most people , I run hot and cold on this guy. If he was around today, there’d probably be a book in every tattoo parlor with his designs for the times
Sellout, yeah. Douche? Never thought so.
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Hipsterbags on the other hand try to fit in through not fitting in… and are therefore are the biggest followers of them all.
Douche. The “his day” equivalent of Ed Hardy.
Perhaps the definitive measure of douchiness for both these two is: how likely would either groin shave reveal? In Warhol’s case, most unlikely, Picasso: more likely than unlikely.
Warhol gets a pass, I’m mean come on he hung out with the Stones in the 70’s at their most decadent and lest we not forget he photographed the cover of “Sticky Fingers” imho on of thee greatest Stones album of all times.
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Also the Warhol museum in his home town is pretty cool!!!
I challenge all to find a Warhol piece that matches the beautiful urbanity of this:
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Click here http://www.warhol.org/exhibitionrentals/ then go to “Starf*cker: Andy Warhol and The Rolling Stones” Tis good stuff!!!
I would issue a nottapass simply because he was hired by G.E. to design an artsy refrigerator and he delivered to them a white metal box with chrome door handles.
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They fired his ass.
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Smart Alecks.
Do you blame The Rolling Stones for Creed? Then you can’t blame Warhol for hipsterbags. And I think the argument that all hipsterbags want to “sell out, make millions, and still be a pretentious jackwad?” is flawed. My argument may be a bit reductionist but I think the end game for them is to just look cool. I don’t think anyone aspires to pretension, it’s just something that happens when you’re trying too hard.
Anyway, Nico really never did much for me. Too dour. Give me Edie Sedgwick.
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art fags
I had the great pleasure of seeing the Burning Sensations perform “Pablo Picasso” at At My Place, Santa Monica ca. 1984
Thanks Et Tu.
For further hipsterbag mockery I recommend a really funny BBC series called Nathan Barley that is a pretty scathing send up of hipster culture/Vice magazine.
That Picasso song reminds me, did I leave those radioactive aliens in the trunk of my Malibu?
so,,,whos the girl?
I must object, DB1. Calling Dali’s righteous ‘stache “facial fung” is like calling Wes Montgomery a douche because those choads in Nickelback play guitar, too. Completely different animals.
@rob
I believe that’s Nico, of Velvet Underground fame. But I could be wrong.
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60s libertines
That Roman Polanski sure got a lot of pussy.
Agreed re: Warhol. He was such a neurotic mess, there was no way he could be a hipsterbag. He didn’t try to be hip – he was just this fucked up weirdo from Pennsylvania who found a way to make a good living without working too hard. He didn’t have a lot of imagination about his own person, so his lack of image became an image and bingo – the moral curse of postmodernity was borneded.
For those wondering – yes, the woman in the photo is Nico. She was a fashion model and sort-of singer from Austria. Had a REALLY serious affection for heroin. she hated the fact that she was stone cold gorgeous, and spent the rest of her life looking like a cadaver. Finally kicked heroin and died in a bicycle accident.
The other Warhol hottie was Edie Sedgwick, who made Nico look like a sane and responsible citizen. Edie was fucking CRACKED. totally. A complete disaster of a human being. Lou Reed wrote a bunch of Berlin about her. Sad Song? Sedgwick. If you want to see what kind of an emotional black hole she was, watch her “movie”, ciao Manhattan. It’s really pretty much a documentary. I had a former girlfriend who thought Edie was some kind of awesome, and she even looked a bit like her. She was totally fucking cracked too.
I know people who were in and around the factory (they are all much older than me – I was but a wee puppy child then) and they all say it was a wild fucking ride. Massive creativity, massive drugs, massively wild, massively weird, and they all lived to regret it all but would do it again in a New York Second.
I remember Andy Warhol for the way he looked more than anything else: his art, his demeanour at clubs, his buddies. His appearance co-opted his life stuff. If that is the whole point of looking like a douchebag, so be it. I don’t think he acted like one. He was just the unique Mr Warhol. These kinds of people are so married to NYC they can’t even imagine leaving town for surgical needs. In the end I just imagine him suffering post-op after gallbladder removal and dying in that Manhattan hospital. Odd that he should come to that end. HE coulda’ lived on had he gone to Mayo or Cleveland Clinic or Duke or someplace where the hospital had top nursing care. Ah, just seeing him again brings back the sadness of his rather sudden departure. Gone way too soon.
I wonder what brand of conditioner he used?
What an interesting crew of people they were. Famewhores,but they knew how to work it in the newspaper,and music media. And they did actually work hard at it. They all pass and go to hipster heaven because they invented way too much. (grunge sound,dirty sounding /ugly music,media whores,independent films,pop art,etc.) Jeff Koons has wet dreams wishing he was like Warhol,and he’ll never be.
I have to say this too—The Velvet Underground and Nico-first album put out in 1967 the summer of love, this album was totally the summer of New York City street. No sugarcoating,either.
Summer is ending. Spiderman is back to school http://ow.ly/69GLq?e=627l60