NYC Art Appreciation 101

A savvy news reporter interviewed Andy Warhol in the 1960s. His questions were posed to embarrass the pop icon. Many art critics considered Warhol a fraud. The journalist thought that he was smarter than Andy and asked, "Really, Mr. Warhol, what do you think about Art?"

"I think it is a very good name for a man."

Only a queer could be that quick.

But Andy Warhol wasn't really gay. He was something else. An artist blessed with success. His paintings hang in museums around the world and tomorrow the museums of New York are offering free admission for one-day and one-day only.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, El Museo del Barrio on 105th Street, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum at 89th Street, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum at 91st Street and the Museum of the City of New York at 103rd Street are all part of the Museum Mile Festival.

6pm-9pm tomorrow, 8 June.

Find out more at www.museummilefestival.org

I used to live in museums in the 70s.

My favorite were the Whitney and the Met.

The Met had a daily suggested admission fee and the Whitney was free on Thursday.

A quarter brought entry to the Met and every Thursday I prowled the Whitney to expand the lessons of Art Appreciation 101 during my studies at Boston College. The light expanse of James Turrell. The humor of Death Ship sculpture. Conversation with Nan Goldin. The Hudson River artist. Thomas Cole and Alfred Bierstadt. El Greco's View of Toledo. What blues.

No one went to the museums in the 1970s.

The paintings had no value.

Their beauty confused the common folk.

Not now.

The bidding wars in the 1980s focused the masses on the material value of Van Goghs, Picassos, and even Warhol. Bus tours from Schwallahah, PA. targeted the museums as a day trip destination. The over-sized hinterlanders meandered through wings in herds. Gone were the quietude of solitary reflection on a Diebenhorn. The Met disappeared the cafeteria's dolphin fountain for the great sitting capacity. My aesthete friends bemoaned the collapse of the ancient hierarchy of art lovers. The museums didn't care for they were heaping money in a near-carnival atmosphere. Entry tickets climbed from affordable to pricey.

The Met had a suggested admission fee.I always gave them a quarter. The Whitney was free on Friday evenings.

But on June 9 they are opening their doors to the public.

Free free free.

And there isn't much that is free in New World.

Only breathing and the Staten Island Ferry.