
Andy Warhol's Ruthenian Catholicism - brudgers
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/issues/february-9th-2018/andy-warhols-devotion-was-almost-surreal/#.WoBPqJiK7Bg.facebook
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telesilla
I just happen to be in Rome this Easter weekend, when half the city pretends
it's not religious and keeps the door open in the centre for the hoards of
tourists, and the other half closes its doors and leaves for the seaside. I
was half-expecting to have a glance of a fake Pope wandering around as a
tourist trap given the amount of money pouring in from low-cost flights less
days, but instead yesterday I found myself in a tiny gallery near the much-
more famous Villa Borghese, with photos of Andy Warhol probably in the same
year of him meeting the Pope, as illustrated here:

[https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-
culture/2018/01/30/andy...](https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-
culture/2018/01/30/andy-warhol-goes-vatican)

While this article (which is otherwise fairly word-for-word over the one
posted here) asks "What does it say about the world of art if it fails to
realize Warhol’s religious vision? There is perhaps a more pressing question:
What does it say about Catholics if they fail to see in Warhol’s art one of
their own?", I consider - maybe Andy was sceptical about his faith, seeing the
amount of money changing hands over church-related goods and services, and
found that his ability to obtain wealth through iconography was no less
cynical. Hence, how he is perceived as cool and business-like as an artist and
entrepreneur.

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bobthechef
> I consider - maybe Andy was sceptical about his faith, seeing the amount of
> money changing hands over church-related goods and services, and found that
> his ability to obtain wealth through iconography was no less cynical.

It's not clear what you're trying to say. According to the article he was
quite religious, attending mass nearly daily. Baseless suspicions of
skepticism and cynicism seem biased. Also, what does "amount of money changing
hands over church-related goods and services" and "obtaining wealth through
iconography" mean? Are you claiming the Church is an cynical, money-making
business?

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__s
He introduced the cynical premise in his opening paragraph

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telesilla
(she). Thanks - that's the summary of my point, and I appreciate your comment.

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Noos
I don't like articles like this. "Oh, he never really showed much of any
adherence to Catholicism in his work or his public life, but he was REALLY a
crypto-Catholic who had 'hidden piety.'" Meanwhile people who actually live
their beliefs and try to express them explicitly in art get ignored, because
Warhol was famous and they are not.

I saw this in evangelism, too. There were many artists in the 1980s trying
their best to make Christian pop music, but all you could hear was endless
attempts by the intelligentsia to make Bono from U2 into some neo-Christian
because he was famous and his works might be intepreted in a vaguely
Christian-friendly manner. This is one of the ways Christian culture stomps on
its artists, and the rather naked fame-chasing disgruntled me once I realized
how pervasive it was.

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_sdegutis
Related to music and art within Christianity, earlier today my wife had some
old saved K-LOVE songs on and I just had to leave the room because it was so..
_generic_. Like not even vanilla but actually unflavored ice cream. So I’ve
been listening to Gungor’s older stuff since then because it actually has
creativity and originality to it and I wish Christian music could embrace
that. Heck I think if I was in the mood for Christian music I would listen to
Schism by Tool sooner than anything ever played on K-LOVE. It seems mainstream
Christian music is designed purely to give people semi happy feelings and rake
in as much money as possible, and because of that there’s no real _art_ to
almost any of it.

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michaelchisari
I think Hank Hill hit it on the head with his take on Christian Rock.

 _" Can't you see you're not making Christianity better, you're just making
rock-n-roll worse."_

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B1FF_PSUVM
That was quite moving and wholly unexpected - "In my Father's house are many
mansions", indeed.

