PA House Candidate's Sign Placed Next To Andy Warhol's Tombstone

PITTSBURGH, PA - A Pennsylvania state House candidate is coming under fire for momentarily placing a campaign sign next to the grave of legendary artist and pop culture icon Andy Warhol last weekend.

Sharon Guidi of Peters and a campaign aide visited the grave in Pittsburgh’s Castle Shannon neighborhood and briefly put the sign next to the grave before taking it away. The incident was caught on webcam, as the gravesite is viewable 24 hours a day through a collaborative project between the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and EarthCam.

Guidi, a Democrat, is running against Republican Natalie Mihalek for the 40th District seat being vacated by the retiring John Maher. The district includes Peters, Upper St. Clair and portions of Bethel Park.

Guidi told KDKA-TV she didn’t think Warhol would have minded the placement of the sign.

“I think it was a fun thing to do,” she said. “I think he would have had a kick out of it.”

In a statement to KDKA, Mihalek indicated she thought Guidi acted inappropriately.

“It’s one thing for a politician to engage in door knocking,“ she said. “It is entirely another to engage in casket-knocking.”

Warhol was buried in 1987 alongside his parents, Julia and Andrej Warhola, at St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cemetery. It is owned and operated by St. John the Baptist Church in Pittsburgh, a sister parish of St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church, Warhol’s childhood church.

Photo via YouTube.

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