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AndyWarhol

Happy Birthday to John [Happy Birthday John Lennon] (Jonas Mekas, 1995)

Oct

9

1972

Happy Birthday to John (1995)

A rectangular birthday cake with a chocolate acoustic guitar spells out Happy Birthday John From Yoko And The Whole World. Presumed DP: Jonas Mekas.

On October 9th, 1972 an exhibition of John and Yoko's art – designed by the Master of the Fluxus movement, George Maciunas and curated by David Ross – opened at the Syracuse Museum of Art in New York. On the same day, an unusual group of John and Yoko's friends, including Ringo Starr, Allen Ginsberg, and Paul Krasner, gathered to celebrate John's birthday.

 

66 scener fra Amerika [66 Scenes from America] (Jørgen Leth, 1982)

Jul

4

Independence Day

66 scener fra Amerika (1982)

Director Jørgen Leth capturing Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii [Merrick Butte] in Monument Valley, AZ, for the opening scene. He's waving a small American flag in front of the camera. DP: Dan Holmberg.

A road movie becomes interesting when the traveller is a stranger. When he or she takes that first step, head still firmly planted at home, soul on its way out.

“Salt, pepper, sugar, ketchup and napkins, New York.”

Jørgen Leth is a Danish documentary maker who in the early 80s sent sixty-six postcards from America. These postcards form a #travelogue of bewilderment. The #landscape, #food, language, anything an American may take for granted framed in a moving still. The American, ever ready for stardom, poses and orates. The scenes become show, regardless if it's a New York cabbie or a man famously (falsely) credited for predicting fame, slowly eating a Whopper.

 

The resulting 66 scener fra Amerika is as much a time capsule as it is a portrait of forever.

Afternoon (Andy Warhol, 1965)

Apr

19

National Hanging Out Day

Afternoon (1965)

Fabulous Factory people hanging out. Edie interacts with the camera, the rest looks mostly bored. Image owned by the Warhol Foundation yadda yadda for educational purposes only.

Part of the never-realised #SuperStar-studded The Poor Little Rich Girl Saga, #Warhol's Afternoon documents a day in the life of doomed socialite Edie Sedgwick. Miss Sedgwick and her entourage (Ondine, Dorothy Dean, Arthur Loeb, and Donald Lyons) spend an afternoon at #Edie's place. The superstars, the bored and the beautiful, chat, drink and do drugs.

“Isn’t it wonderful that we can be just friends?”

Kiss (Andy Warhol, 1963)

Feb

13

Kiss Day

Kiss (1963)

An interracial couple kissing. © The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh.

“People should fall in love with their eyes closed.”

– Andy Warhol