Then, in 1968, a paranoid schizophrenic named Valerie Solanas shot Warhol and nearly killed him, and although he returned to painting and to a jet‐set social life, his work was never again on the leading edge of the contemporary arts.
did getting shot impact his later work? Was he scared of getting shot again? Did the recovery take it all out of him? Was he depressed after his recovery? How bad was his drug usage?
A very boring person
Hard to imagine Warhol as being "boring". What I read from Gene Swenson's interview suggests that Warhol is anything but boring. Warhol's thought process seemed so "odd" and sometimes "backwards". Funny to think he's super lame in person.
video game
Ah! You said my trigger word Heartney. I THINK what you're saying is, because no actual human carnage was shown but instead flat targeting systems, it was easier for people to dissociate themselves from the real carnage that's happening? That's messed up... I've noticed it's a problem for social media and online gaming as well. It's too easy to forget that the person on the other side of the screen has thoughts and emotions just like you.
his death was perhaps a respite from almost certain future suffering
It's easy for me to forget that artists are people outside their art. I'm sure Pollock had a rough life and was really suffering towards the end of it. Wherever he is now, I hope he's not in agony anymore.
as I see it
You think he uses the word "as I see it" as a way of saying there's more than one way to interpret Modernism?
The arts could save themselves from this leveling down only by demonstrating that the kind of experience they provided was valuable in its own right and not to be obtained from any other kind of activity
This is how video games earned their spot, because they are able to interact with people in ways other art forms cannot: Flat paintings are purely visual, films are audiovisual based, video games are also audiovisual but have a layer of physical interactivity no other art form has. The "gameplay" is what sets video games apart from every other art medium (which is why it's my favorite). I am curious though, what is something flat paintings can do that video games cannot? I can't think of anything, but I'd love to hear someone else's opinion.