Julianna Yau’s blog

Today, I finally visited the Children’s Museum of Waterloo with Adriana, my partner in 2Picas. Going through the museum, I felt like a kid again (and wished there were places that cool when I was younger).

Their exhibit, Andy Warhol’s Factory, was totally worth the price of admission. Although not all of the appropriated work was good, we were both amazed by Devorah Sperber‘s After Warhol, which is comprised of 698 spools of thread and viewed through an acrylic globe. Sperber’s thread spool works are superb examples of appropriation at its best, where the impact of the original works are integral to the new work, but the appropriating artist brings her own artistic brilliance to the recasting of the work.

What was absolutely awe inspiring were Warhol’s Details of Renaissance Paintings: Sandro Boticelli, Birth of Venus works. We only saw 5 of the 18 works, but both sank into the couches across from the display from the sheer impact of the silkscreens. The colour, detail and highlight variations showed obvious intention. I couldn’t get over how neither of us knew these works existed, and they are some of Warhol’s finest work.

After seeing Sperber and Warhol’s artwork, I’m dying to take a trip to Pitsburgh to visit the Warhol Museum. I also want to visit the Mattress Factory, a museum of contemporary art that I’ve started following on Twitter and is doing awesome things with social media tools like Brightkite.

Photos from our visit: