The Andy Warhol Museum located in the North Shore neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Conveniently, it is also Warhol's hometown. Admissions are set at a moderate price (at $20 for adults, ten if you're a student with a valid ID); luckily for me, I happened to visit during the Art Fest celebration throughout that week, and I saved myself $10.
Visiting the museum wasn't my first time at an art museum or gallery. Born and raised in the bursting cultural bubble that is New York City. I found myself in the presence of a plethora of great works of art on display on the streets and in museums like the MoMA or the Met; in which I gladly delved into.
However, one that warm, sunny day in Pittsburgh I discovered a new piece within myself as I became enticed by the works of Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei.
Not only were the pieces themselves fascinating, but the entire layout and architecture of the building were also a work of art! Six floors of gallery space traveling in a steadfast downward cohesive spiral. As advised, you must start at the top level where it all began. The top floor showcases the earliest work of the namesake artist with insider tidbits about the Warhol family. Throughout my trek down the spiral, I participated in each and every exciting interactive room display.
The museum as a whole had an exhibit running showing the works of Ai Weiwei alongside Warhol's work. Intricately they wove each piece together to demonstrate the juxtaposition of their lives in ways such as how they focused on their subject matter, themes throughout their artistic careers, and how both Warhol and Weiwei represented the prospective century in which they lived (20th and 21st, respectively)
All my life, for as long as I can physically remember I've had an acute interest in the arts. I love to draw, to read, and to write. Creating something out of nothing but my mind and the impenetrable imagination lured me. The jumbled mess of neurons in my brain fired like a midsummer's thunderstorm nonstop. Many times I genuinely appreciated, and was emotional, spiritually, and physically affected by a work of art; no matter the subject, no matter if it was a song vibrating its sounds into my ears, or a painting, or a sculpture, or a book, a poem. All works of art leave an everlasting mark on me. Indeed, some particular works of art wrought out the emotions and sensations from deep within my inner core to which I have no words to describe them. I found a couple on the walls of the museum. At the time of my visit to Pittsburgh, I was... No, I am experiencing the world where everything is a little duller. For the better half of the year, I saw the world as if it lost all of its colors. I couldn't feel anything. Kaput, nada, zilch. It was as if one by one my senses experienced a power outage and a couple of the screws and nails in the infrastructure of my mind and soul were unexplainably missing.
Until my day trip across one of the many bridges, the City of Steel had and I found myself strolling into a building completely unaware of the impact it will have on me. Oh, naive Krizia has not the slightest inclination or clue she will find a piece of herself within the walls of the Andy Warhol Museum.Before this warm, sunny Pittsburgh day, I wasn't a huge fan of Andy Warhol. I knew of his iconic pop art Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup cans and Marilyn Monroe; that is how far my knowledge of the man went. Now, I hold a piece of him in my heart and thank him (and Ai Wei Wei) for clearing my view like a pair of brand-new prescription glasses. As well as, making my world a little less dull, and on teaching me how to appreciate and find the beauty in everything, even the little things.. especially the little things.
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