July 05, 2006

Cronenberg on Warhol. David Cronenberg talks to the ceeb about a show on Andy Warhol's dark side he's guest-curating at the AGO.
  • Did Andy Warhol have any other side?
  • Warhol was definitely an oddball, but I don't think his work was particularly dark.
  • I don't mean his work, I mean him.
  • Oh. No, he was just weird. You're wrong.
  • In some ways I thinl Warhol was the Pepys of his time. Sounds like an neat exhibit. If you go see it, give us a recap!
  • Just weird? More like the deliberately distilled quintessence of Weird. Manufactured Weird. Wyrd even. Pop-cultural alchemy.
  • I don't think he was that weird.
  • Just the right kind of weird and knew exactly what he was doing.
  • A closet catholic. Now that was weird back then. And Cronenberg looks intense enough now to star in one of his own films.
  • Just the right kind of weird and knew exactly what he was doing. Exactly, it's the precision of the weird that's so unsettling. He was a living, breathing shaggy-dog story that never quite got to the punchline, but never lost its audience's interest.. The guy knew exactly which buttons to push, exactly how much energy to expend, exactly what quirks to affect to achieve a celebrity apotheosis that served as an artwork in and of itself without ever becoming relegated to one-note pomo irrelevance. That's creepy, no one should have the innate knowledge and ability to play culture like a fiddle.
  • Oooh, the AGO - the waffle gallery of Ontario. That's a great place.