Bill, the Pittsfield Cafe, Andy Warhol, and Edie Sedgwick

 

Mike with Bill at the Pittsfield Cafe

   On Friday, December 13, 2019 Sherry and I boarded the South shore to The Chicago Institute of Art. Sherry had wanted to see the Andy Warhol exhibit and also did I.

We arrived early in the day and decided to have lunch before viewing the exhibit.

Yes, I will describe the Andy Warhol exhibit, but first I must talk about Bill.

Sherry and I had happened upon a very cool restaurant in the Pittsfield Building named “Pittsfield Café”. This restaurant is a delightful place to eat with tasty and generous servings of food. But my favorite attribute of the restaurant was Bill.

   Bill had immigrated from Greece in 1950 when he was 17. He had worked at night while going to school during the day to learn English. Bill had eventually opened a restaurant in Chicago. He worked hard developing business until he had, at one point, four restaurants in Chicago. Around 1977 he opened the Pittsfield Café. Yes, this restaurant has operated for 42 years (perhaps under different names, I did not ask). Bill is very engaging. Eager to tell his story, which is entertaining and inspirational, one feels as if Bill uses his story merely as a way to make new friends. He is healthy, energetic, and humorous. He does not want to stop working. Just talking to this fellow makes one want to become an entrepreneur of something. Imagine…happily running restaurants for sixty years!

   His son now owns and manages the Pittsfield Café while Bill works as a host and conversationalist extraordinaire.

    As much enjoyment as Sherry and I were to have at the Museum, for me, meeting Bill was the highlight of the day. He is one pleasant person for sure.

   I encourage you to visit Pittsfield Café while in Chicago. And tell Bill that Mike says “hello”.

The Pittsfield Café is located at: 55 E Washington St
Chicago, Illinois 60602

   And you can check them out on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Pittsfield-Cafe-179465312135928/

On to the Andy Warhol exhibit;

Warhol self portrait

    I must confess, I have never been a fan of his art work. But I have always been a student of his iconic place in 1960s American culture. While living in Detroit as a kid I would read the “Tempo” section of the Detroit Free Press which covered art, music, theater and such. Always there was something about Andy and his work. Andy challenged prevailing notions of what art could be.

very early art display

   I experienced the exhibit much like going to a rock concert of some 1960s group. But, unlike the obvious aging of the personnel of those 1960s rock groups, Andy’s art has not aged at all. It comes across in person yet fresher than the photos I had seen in magazines, and Tempo.

   Walking through the voluminous display of his art made me feel as though I were back in the 1960s for a while.

   Andy also made films. There is a presentation of some of his films.

I watched one such film “Screen Test Edie Sedgwick” Edie, who I also remember reading about in Tempo, was a 1960s model and actress. She was a close associate of Andy’s. This screen test ran for four minutes and thirty-six seconds during which Edie sat motionless. Not moving her head, making only nearly imperceptible gestures, Edie stared into the camera with penetrating brown eyes that effervesced like the surface of a freshly poured Coca-Cola.

Edie

  Periodically during those four minutes and thirty-six seconds, you can see the slightest curvature of lips toward a smile being actively repressed.

   But mostly it was the blink I favor as art. As humans do, she would blink from time to time. Most blinks were half-blinks. Other blinks were full, deliberate, and ceremonious. It had come across to me that Edie had discovered a way to personalize the moment while being compliant to Andy’s instruction to remain still without facial gesture.

   Andy’s display was enjoyable. It was fun to be up close to these “bigger than life” works of art which even today seem revolutionary.

Sherry...it was her idea to visit.

You can experience Andy’s art at the Art Institute of Chicago.

It will be on display until January 26, 2020.