"Eye-Ass Coordination"

Neke Carson painted this portrait of his friend Andy Warhol in 1972, and "Page Six" reports that it's soon going on exhibit at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, its first public showing in 28 years. It looks pretty common, right? Kind of lopsided and cartoonish, but a pretty accurate likeness nonetheless. Not especially subversive material for that particular moment in artistic culture. So why is this a big deal?

"Page Six" left out an important detail, which New York Magazine's Vulture immediately set right. It seems that Carson, um, painted the portrait with his butt. Which is gross; but you have to admit, it makes the painting so much more impressive, doesn't it? So why did he choose to paint it this way? Apparently the idea came from several sources: kung fu movies, the new popularity of body art, and an off-color comment his wife made (and probably regretted immediately). And also because painting with your hand is so yesterday. Carson is quoted as saying: "My idea was, your hand is way too sophisticated to make art. This had much less baggage, to get this eye-ass coordination going. You had to rewire your brain, go from your eyes to your butt instead of your arms."

Portrait of Andy Warhol will be shown alongside Carson's video of Warhol's portrait sitting starting March 14th. I'm intrigued, but definitely not enough to subject my poor eyeballs to a naked Neke Carson trying to maneuver with a paintbrush between his cheeks while Andy Warhol attempts to keep a straight face. I apologize for that mental image. But for the record, Warhol thought the finished product looked great.