David Oresick, executive director of the Mattress Factory, suggests a visit to three Pittsburgh arts institutions to dive into important works on view.

On Kawara, Feb. 29, 1988, 1988

Carnegie Museum of Art, 4400 Forbes Avenue
As a native Pittsburgher, I’ve loved this painting since I was a teenager. It’s a piece that opened my mind to what painting and art was or could be, in part because it is an ongoing meditation on the present, travel, creation, and time. I’m always inspired by CMoA’s collection.

Andy Warhol, Sprite Heads Playing Violins, 1948

The Andy Warhol Museum, 117 Sandusky Street
I’m always drawn to Warhol’s very early works. There is something I find compelling about the work of artists who are still learning how to speak in their own voice. This drawing is warm, funny, and playful, and it just pulls me in right away.

Greer Lankton, It’s All About ME, not you, 1996

Mattress Factory, 500 Sampsonia Way
Lankton’s incredible It’s All About ME, not you is one of my favorite works in our collection. It’s so raw, heartbreaking, and honest, but profoundly beautiful and moving to me. The apartment Greer created is so real and clearly lived in. The density of material provides me something new to discover, no matter how many times I go through it.

Story by David Oresick