Taylor Mead's Ass is a film by Andy Warhol featuring Taylor Mead, consisting entirely of a shot of Mead's buttocks, and filmed at The Factory in 1964.[1]
According to Watson's Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties, Taylor Mead had achieved a degree of fame that "inspired a backlash." One example was a letter to the editors at The Village Voice in August 1964 by Peter Emanuel Goldman, who was upset by Jonas Mekas's film reviews for the paper: "I have tolerated his praise of films shot without cameras, films shot without lenses, films shot without film, films shot out of focus, films focusing on Taylor Mead's ass for two hours, etc. . . . But the August 13 column in praise of Andy Warhol was a bit too much." Mead replied in a letter to the publication: "Re. Peter Goldman's letter in The Voice, Andy Warhol and I have searched the archives of the Warhol colossus and find no 'two hour film of Taylor Mead's ass.' We are rectifying this undersight with the unlimited resources at our command. Love and kisses." Two days later, Warhol shot the "sixty-minute opus that consisted entirely of Taylor Mead's Ass," during which Mead first exhibits a variety of movement, then appears to "shove a variety of objects up his ass." The film was Mead's last for Warhol "for more than three years", at the end of 1964, "Mead felt betrayed by Warhol for not showing the film."[2][3] The satirical devices of exaggeration and incongruity are represented by the objects that give characteristics such as simile, symbolism, hyperbole, imagery, and foreshadowing to the film's pop culture iconography in the form of a photo of Lady Bird Johnson; another of Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor in The Birds; another of Liz Taylor and Richard Burton in The V.I.P.s; and the Beatles on the cover of Life, Hemingway's Moveable Feast, followed by Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, a gay porn magazine entitled BIG, flowers, a vacuum cleaner hose, plus a Scott toilet tissue wrapper, which creates an avant-garde social commentary, historic time-capsule, and psychosexual drama. The film subsequently has received one review on IMDB, from an external source, an internet blog.
The film was described as "seventy-six seriocomic minutes of this poet/actor's buttocks absorbing light, attention, debris" by Wayne Koestenbaum, in Art Forum.[4] In his book, Andy Warhol, Koestenbaum writes, "Staring at his cleft moon for 76 minutes, I begin to understand its abstractions: high-contrast lighting conscripts the ass into being a figure for whiteness itself, particularly when the ass merges with the blank leader at each reel's end. The buttocks, seen in isolation, seem explicitly double: two cheeks, divided in the centre by a dark line. The bottom's double structure recalls Andy's two-paneled paintings..."
taylor, mead, film, andy, warhol, featuring, taylor, mead, consisting, entirely, shot, mead, buttocks, filmed, factory, 1964, directed, byandy, warholstarringtaylor, meadrelease, date1964, contents, production, also, references, external, linksproduction, edit. Taylor Mead s Ass is a film by Andy Warhol featuring Taylor Mead consisting entirely of a shot of Mead s buttocks and filmed at The Factory in 1964 1 Taylor Mead s AssDirected byAndy WarholStarringTaylor MeadRelease date1964 Contents 1 Production 2 See also 3 References 4 External linksProduction editAccording to Watson s Factory Made Warhol and the Sixties Taylor Mead had achieved a degree of fame that inspired a backlash One example was a letter to the editors at The Village Voice in August 1964 by Peter Emanuel Goldman who was upset by Jonas Mekas s film reviews for the paper I have tolerated his praise of films shot without cameras films shot without lenses films shot without film films shot out of focus films focusing on Taylor Mead s ass for two hours etc But the August 13 column in praise of Andy Warhol was a bit too much Mead replied in a letter to the publication Re Peter Goldman s letter in The Voice Andy Warhol and I have searched the archives of the Warhol colossus and find no two hour film of Taylor Mead s ass We are rectifying this undersight with the unlimited resources at our command Love and kisses Two days later Warhol shot the sixty minute opus that consisted entirely of Taylor Mead s Ass during which Mead first exhibits a variety of movement then appears to shove a variety of objects up his ass The film was Mead s last for Warhol for more than three years at the end of 1964 Mead felt betrayed by Warhol for not showing the film 2 3 The satirical devices of exaggeration and incongruity are represented by the objects that give characteristics such as simile symbolism hyperbole imagery and foreshadowing to the film s pop culture iconography in the form of a photo of Lady Bird Johnson another of Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor in The Birds another of Liz Taylor and Richard Burton in The V I P s and the Beatles on the cover of Life Hemingway s Moveable Feast followed by Tolstoy s Anna Karenina a gay porn magazine entitled BIG flowers a vacuum cleaner hose plus a Scott toilet tissue wrapper which creates an avant garde social commentary historic time capsule and psychosexual drama The film subsequently has received one review on IMDB from an external source an internet blog The film was described as seventy six seriocomic minutes of this poet actor s buttocks absorbing light attention debris by Wayne Koestenbaum in Art Forum 4 In his book Andy Warhol Koestenbaum writes Staring at his cleft moon for 76 minutes I begin to understand its abstractions high contrast lighting conscripts the ass into being a figure for whiteness itself particularly when the ass merges with the blank leader at each reel s end The buttocks seen in isolation seem explicitly double two cheeks divided in the centre by a dark line The bottom s double structure recalls Andy s two paneled paintings See also editList of American films of 1964 Andy Warhol filmographyReferences edit IMDB entry IMDb Watson Steven 1993 Factory Made Warhol and the Sixties Pantheon p 165 ISBN 978 0679423720 Retrieved 2012 12 12 via Google Books Cresap Kelly M 2004 Pop Trickster Fool WARHOL PERFORMS NAIVETE 1st ed University of Illinois Press p 196 ISBN 978 0252071812 Retrieved 2012 12 12 via Google Books Koestenbaum Wayne 2002 Wayne Koestenbaum Idol Chat The Films of Andy Warhol Artforum International Archived from the original on 2016 03 08 Retrieved 2012 12 12 External links editTaylor Mead s Ass at IMDb nbsp Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Taylor Mead 27s Ass amp oldid 1211888942, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
