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The only truly personal biography of one of the greatest artists of our time, Andy Warhol.
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Catherine Johnson
2 Thank You andY Warhol | Contents Contents | Thank You andY Warhol 3
Introduction 10Beezy Mitzer & Elaine Finsilver 14Sheila Cole Nilva 18Vito Giallo 23Stephen Bruce 26Arthur & Teddy Edelman 29James (Jamie) Warhola 33Gretchen Berg 37Frances Grill 40Ivan Karp 42Jonas Mekas 45Billy Name 48Brigid Berlin 53Danny Fields 57Taylor Mead 60Robert Richards 63Betsey Johnson 66Ken Heyman 68Bibbe Hansen 70Robert Heide 74Alma Moore 78Jerry Schatzberg 80
Contents
George Lois 83Vincent Fremont 86Bob Colacello 88Glenn O’Brien 92Peter Beard 94Christopher Makos 97Marc Balet 100Valerie Steele 104Sylvia Miles 107Richard Prince 110Chris Royer 114Roberta Bayley 117James Hammond 120Carmen D’Alessio 124Liza Minnelli 127Todd Eberle 130Ben House 133Roxanne Lowit 136Patrick McDonald 138Matt Rich 141Phillip Romero 144John Reinhold 147
Peter Wise 150Marcia Resnick 154Jeffrey Deitch 157Kenny Scharf 162Kevin Dornan 165Anthony Haden-Guest 168Kate Harrington 170Jeffrey Slonim 173Gary Comenas 176Harvey Redding 178Stuart Pivar 181Angela Forenza 184Vik Muniz 186Peter McGough 189Bridget de Socio 192Michael Halsband 196Eric Fraad 200Simon Doonan 202Trey Speegle 205Christophe von Hohenberg 208David Gamble 211Blake Boyd 214
Lissa Rivera 216Stefan Sagmeister 218Ryan McGinness 222Eric Shiner 225Thomas Kiedrowski 228Catherine Johnson 231Contributors 236
2 Thank You andY Warhol | Contents Contents | Thank You andY Warhol 3
Introduction 10Beezy Mitzer & Elaine Finsilver 14Sheila Cole Nilva 18Vito Giallo 23Stephen Bruce 26Arthur & Teddy Edelman 29James (Jamie) Warhola 33Gretchen Berg 37Frances Grill 40Ivan Karp 42Jonas Mekas 45Billy Name 48Brigid Berlin 53Danny Fields 57Taylor Mead 60Robert Richards 63Betsey Johnson 66Ken Heyman 68Bibbe Hansen 70Robert Heide 74Alma Moore 78Jerry Schatzberg 80
Contents
George Lois 83Vincent Fremont 86Bob Colacello 88Glenn O’Brien 92Peter Beard 94Christopher Makos 97Marc Balet 100Valerie Steele 104Sylvia Miles 107Richard Prince 110Chris Royer 114Roberta Bayley 117James Hammond 120Carmen D’Alessio 124Liza Minnelli 127Todd Eberle 130Ben House 133Roxanne Lowit 136Patrick McDonald 138Matt Rich 141Phillip Romero 144John Reinhold 147
Peter Wise 150Marcia Resnick 154Jeffrey Deitch 157Kenny Scharf 162Kevin Dornan 165Anthony Haden-Guest 168Kate Harrington 170Jeffrey Slonim 173Gary Comenas 176Harvey Redding 178Stuart Pivar 181Angela Forenza 184Vik Muniz 186Peter McGough 189Bridget de Socio 192Michael Halsband 196Eric Fraad 200Simon Doonan 202Trey Speegle 205Christophe von Hohenberg 208David Gamble 211Blake Boyd 214
Lissa Rivera 216Stefan Sagmeister 218Ryan McGinness 222Eric Shiner 225Thomas Kiedrowski 228Catherine Johnson 231Contributors 236
4 Thank You andY Warhol | Introduction Introduction | Thank You andY Warhol 5
The Thank You Andy Warhol project began one morning in January 2011. The eco-nomic oppression coupled with the post-holiday winter blues was absolutely draining me, and seemingly everyone else around me. My creative community was on life sup-port, completely frozen and unable to move any work forward.
I started wondering in these down times: what would Andy do? I immediately felt bet-ter because I knew he would just adapt, reinvent, and redefine himself; or just work it out. When one aspect of his career was over, boring him, failing or just whatever, he found a new project to snag him. His work and work ethic has always inspired me and I found myself thinking, “Thank You Andy Warhol.”
And that’s how it all started. I admired Andy’s tenacity and ability to move forward de-spite an impoverished childhood, financial obstacles, an unusual physical appearance, naysayers, an assassination attempt, a near-death experience, being gay during a time when it caused extreme alienation and discrimination, a sad love life, and the critics who trashed his work and character his entire life. And those are just the things we know about.
So I decided to put some questions out there to friends, and friends of friends, to see how others felt about Andy: how did Andy influence them and what would they thank him for, either personally or professionally? After just one month, the potential interview list grew to the point that my little project became a full-time job. Everybody had a story. My publisher signed me up and I started filming and transcribing my inter-views. I only ceased when the deadline for publication loomed and forced me to submit the text.
This Warhol survey could be worldwide and lifelong. I discovered that despite a million Andy books, this project immediately hit a nerve and had people talking. Within two days of putting it out there to publishers, the Andy Warhol Foundation, and some art-ists, the URL was taken, my copy was lifted verbatim from my pitch letter for another art project, and a graffiti poster hit the streets of LA. Coincidences are funny things. Which reminds me: Mr. Brainwash, I am sorry we never connected for our interview.
The criteria for selecting whom to ultimately interview was that the person had to have been influenced, affected, or touched by the life and/or work of Andy Warhol. The pri-mary point of discussion was: how did Andy influence the way the person thought and how they approached their life and work?
IntroduCtIonThe interviewee had to have a compelling story that referenced or involved a specific piece of Warhol art, a book, a film, a creative collaboration, or an actual meeting or conversation with Warhol. That turned out to be a hell of a lot of people, including for-mer roommates, artists, designers, historians, fashion icons, actors, an opera director, photographers, former staff members of Interview magazine, two museum directors, a collector, a family member, art dealers, contemporary artists, and a psychiatrist.
The process for the interviews was in most cases to meet in person, record the conver-sation, and then transcribe the text. I would then send the text to the person to edit, amend, or rewrite. It was very important to me that interviewees approved their text. I suppose I expected more negative comments about Andy, but very few people wanted to talk about his character flaws. The gossipy, salacious, and negative books have been written. People seemed to want to focus on the positive things about his life and work.
No two people cited the same piece of art as being influential, which amazed me. The following stories are touching, surprising, funny, and varied; so, I “Thank You Andy Warhol” for inadvertently allowing me to meet all of these amazing people.
Andy died twenty-five years ago, this year on February 22. He painted his thirty-two Campbell’s Soup cans fifty years ago, and we still are talking about his life, his work, and his wig. These stories just begin to explain why.
4 Thank You andY Warhol | Introduction Introduction | Thank You andY Warhol 5
The Thank You Andy Warhol project began one morning in January 2011. The eco-nomic oppression coupled with the post-holiday winter blues was absolutely draining me, and seemingly everyone else around me. My creative community was on life sup-port, completely frozen and unable to move any work forward.
I started wondering in these down times: what would Andy do? I immediately felt bet-ter because I knew he would just adapt, reinvent, and redefine himself; or just work it out. When one aspect of his career was over, boring him, failing or just whatever, he found a new project to snag him. His work and work ethic has always inspired me and I found myself thinking, “Thank You Andy Warhol.”
And that’s how it all started. I admired Andy’s tenacity and ability to move forward de-spite an impoverished childhood, financial obstacles, an unusual physical appearance, naysayers, an assassination attempt, a near-death experience, being gay during a time when it caused extreme alienation and discrimination, a sad love life, and the critics who trashed his work and character his entire life. And those are just the things we know about.
So I decided to put some questions out there to friends, and friends of friends, to see how others felt about Andy: how did Andy influence them and what would they thank him for, either personally or professionally? After just one month, the potential interview list grew to the point that my little project became a full-time job. Everybody had a story. My publisher signed me up and I started filming and transcribing my inter-views. I only ceased when the deadline for publication loomed and forced me to submit the text.
This Warhol survey could be worldwide and lifelong. I discovered that despite a million Andy books, this project immediately hit a nerve and had people talking. Within two days of putting it out there to publishers, the Andy Warhol Foundation, and some art-ists, the URL was taken, my copy was lifted verbatim from my pitch letter for another art project, and a graffiti poster hit the streets of LA. Coincidences are funny things. Which reminds me: Mr. Brainwash, I am sorry we never connected for our interview.
The criteria for selecting whom to ultimately interview was that the person had to have been influenced, affected, or touched by the life and/or work of Andy Warhol. The pri-mary point of discussion was: how did Andy influence the way the person thought and how they approached their life and work?
IntroduCtIonThe interviewee had to have a compelling story that referenced or involved a specific piece of Warhol art, a book, a film, a creative collaboration, or an actual meeting or conversation with Warhol. That turned out to be a hell of a lot of people, including for-mer roommates, artists, designers, historians, fashion icons, actors, an opera director, photographers, former staff members of Interview magazine, two museum directors, a collector, a family member, art dealers, contemporary artists, and a psychiatrist.
The process for the interviews was in most cases to meet in person, record the conver-sation, and then transcribe the text. I would then send the text to the person to edit, amend, or rewrite. It was very important to me that interviewees approved their text. I suppose I expected more negative comments about Andy, but very few people wanted to talk about his character flaws. The gossipy, salacious, and negative books have been written. People seemed to want to focus on the positive things about his life and work.
No two people cited the same piece of art as being influential, which amazed me. The following stories are touching, surprising, funny, and varied; so, I “Thank You Andy Warhol” for inadvertently allowing me to meet all of these amazing people.
Andy died twenty-five years ago, this year on February 22. He painted his thirty-two Campbell’s Soup cans fifty years ago, and we still are talking about his life, his work, and his wig. These stories just begin to explain why.
6 Thank You andY Warhol | Betsey Johnson Betsey Johnson | Thank You andY Warhol 7
My first impression of Andy was of a very quiet, shy, mysterious boy/man.
I was by myself in a restaurant celebrating my “somethingth” birthday sometime in the 1960s. And by chance Andy and his entourage came in to eat. Andy came over to my table and asked if he could draw a picture of me. So, he drew a picture of me on a napkin with his magic marker and sure enough I lost it! I probably did my white wash and it probably wasn’t permanent ink.
For me, what would surprise people the most about Andy is how soft and sweet he was.
He didn’t influence pop culture, he invented it!
Andy and his art is still so relevant because great stuff is great forever, especially when the stuff describes or becomes iconic for that time. Andy really describes the ‘60s. He defines the ‘60s like The Beatles or the Stones.
I would thank Andy for everything he did, and for being my most favorite artist in the whole wide world, forever!!!
Regarding the piece of art that influenced me, or that best represents Andy to me, it’s a tie between the Marilyns and the soup cans. The Marilyns because they’re my favorite, and the Campbell’s Soup cans because they scream what pop art is all about.
One word I would pick to describe Andy is shy.
The word Warholian means everything Andy, right?
Betsey Johnson Fashion designer
6 Thank You andY Warhol | Betsey Johnson Betsey Johnson | Thank You andY Warhol 7
My first impression of Andy was of a very quiet, shy, mysterious boy/man.
I was by myself in a restaurant celebrating my “somethingth” birthday sometime in the 1960s. And by chance Andy and his entourage came in to eat. Andy came over to my table and asked if he could draw a picture of me. So, he drew a picture of me on a napkin with his magic marker and sure enough I lost it! I probably did my white wash and it probably wasn’t permanent ink.
For me, what would surprise people the most about Andy is how soft and sweet he was.
He didn’t influence pop culture, he invented it!
Andy and his art is still so relevant because great stuff is great forever, especially when the stuff describes or becomes iconic for that time. Andy really describes the ‘60s. He defines the ‘60s like The Beatles or the Stones.
I would thank Andy for everything he did, and for being my most favorite artist in the whole wide world, forever!!!
Regarding the piece of art that influenced me, or that best represents Andy to me, it’s a tie between the Marilyns and the soup cans. The Marilyns because they’re my favorite, and the Campbell’s Soup cans because they scream what pop art is all about.
One word I would pick to describe Andy is shy.
The word Warholian means everything Andy, right?
Betsey Johnson Fashion designer
8 Thank You andY Warhol | Liza Minnelli Liza Minnelli | Thank You andY Warhol 9
He revolutionized art in a good way. Absolutely. The studio, or Factory, was always throbbing and humming with activity; there was always something going on. You could see his interest in every aspect of Pop culture. Andy was very much like his art: a sign of the times.
We spent so much time together. It might surprise people to know how nice he was. Andy was a genuinely good guy and a positive person. He was intensely interested in everything and always so curious.
My thank you to Andy is a personal one. Above all, he was a good listener; he wasn’t the type to give advice. He understood things really well and was perceptive. He was a very good chum.
There was nothing too extraordinary about our times together. We just hung out. Most of the time we would just have a nice dinner, and talk about whatever was going on in our lives. Just like what any other good friends would do. Those times just weren’t as theatrical as people have presented them to be.
Hanging out at Studio 54 happened for a practical reason. You could get people to leave your house at a decent hour because they had someplace else to go. That’s the truth! I remember Halston telling me about having people over to his place. He said, “They always stay until three or four in the morning. It’s driving me crazy.” Once Studio 54 opened, the new drill became, “Okay, at 10:30, everybody out, and let’s go see what’s going on at Studio 54.”
People might not realize that we all had a lot of work to do during the day. Many of those nights at Studio 54, we would walk in the front door and immediately walk right out the back door, and go home to bed! Since we were usually photographed, it gave the illusion that the gang was there all night, every night. But so many nights it would have just been us just passing through on our way to a quiet dinner, or an early night. All of the “wild times” were so exaggerated.
One night when Halston, Andy and I were having a quiet private dinner, Andy was talking about the families that were so important to him in the history of American entertainment. By the end of dinner, he said he would like to start keep a record of these families by “doing portraits of your family to celebrate you and your parents. And I want to start with you.”
LIza MInneLLI actress & singer
8 Thank You andY Warhol | Liza Minnelli Liza Minnelli | Thank You andY Warhol 9
He revolutionized art in a good way. Absolutely. The studio, or Factory, was always throbbing and humming with activity; there was always something going on. You could see his interest in every aspect of Pop culture. Andy was very much like his art: a sign of the times.
We spent so much time together. It might surprise people to know how nice he was. Andy was a genuinely good guy and a positive person. He was intensely interested in everything and always so curious.
My thank you to Andy is a personal one. Above all, he was a good listener; he wasn’t the type to give advice. He understood things really well and was perceptive. He was a very good chum.
There was nothing too extraordinary about our times together. We just hung out. Most of the time we would just have a nice dinner, and talk about whatever was going on in our lives. Just like what any other good friends would do. Those times just weren’t as theatrical as people have presented them to be.
Hanging out at Studio 54 happened for a practical reason. You could get people to leave your house at a decent hour because they had someplace else to go. That’s the truth! I remember Halston telling me about having people over to his place. He said, “They always stay until three or four in the morning. It’s driving me crazy.” Once Studio 54 opened, the new drill became, “Okay, at 10:30, everybody out, and let’s go see what’s going on at Studio 54.”
People might not realize that we all had a lot of work to do during the day. Many of those nights at Studio 54, we would walk in the front door and immediately walk right out the back door, and go home to bed! Since we were usually photographed, it gave the illusion that the gang was there all night, every night. But so many nights it would have just been us just passing through on our way to a quiet dinner, or an early night. All of the “wild times” were so exaggerated.
One night when Halston, Andy and I were having a quiet private dinner, Andy was talking about the families that were so important to him in the history of American entertainment. By the end of dinner, he said he would like to start keep a record of these families by “doing portraits of your family to celebrate you and your parents. And I want to start with you.”
LIza MInneLLI actress & singer
10 Thank You andY Warhol | Todd Eberle Todd Eberle | Thank You andY Warhol 11
I first became aware of Andy Warhol around the same time I became aware of photog-raphy, around the age of twelve thanks to People, which I was devoted to since it first launched. What kept me glued to it was the weekly chronicle of Andy’s antics and his gang, the “Beautiful People,” at Studio 54. I made a pilgrimage every Tuesday to buy a copy when it hit the newsstands. I lived in a small town in central Florida called Howey-in-the Hills, so that wasn’t always easy. I began pasting every cover of the magazine on my bedroom walls; eventually the covers circled the perimeter of my room four times. People was my lifeline to the world beyond.
I noticed some People covers were much better than others and began paying atten-tion to the photo credits. Consistently, Francesco Scavullo took the very best photo-graphs. His covers made me aware that memorable and impactful photographs were made, and that notion of control became a major revelation.
One day, I saw the book Andy Warhol’s Exposures at a friend’s house. I had to have my own copy immediately so I made my mother drive the thirty miles to the mall where I found a remaindered copy for $1.99. It was like the curtain lifted, and I could see the great and powerful Oz, the door to a bigger universe I wanted to see for myself. My high school offered a class trip to New York so I borrowed money from my grandpar-ents and signed up. There are two things I remember from it: one memory is standing alone outside Halston’s showroom in the Olympic Tower, and the other is seeing Andy Warhol at Studio 54. Don’t ask me how I got in; I was 16. Actually, that may have had something to do with it.
After high school, I moved to New York with the sole mission of having a photograph published in Andy Warhol’s Interview. Andy existed for me as this talismanic figure. Without the knowledge of his existence, I don’t think I would have ever had the cour-age to make New York home. He made a life here seem possible.
Ed Ruscha once said that every art student who came to New York to go to school was a child of Andy Warhol’s. I was one of those kids. College would get me to New York. I was accepted to tuition-free Cooper Union based on a small portfolio of photographs. When I was told that I would not be able to take photography classes until the second year, I slacked off on the required courses and was asked to leave before the second year. Still, I was able to print a new portfolio before leaving with one intention in mind
– to get an assignment for Andy Warhol’s Interview.
todd eBerLe PhotograPherHe painted four of me, all of which I own. Later he did others, because there was no
place in the contract that could limit the number he could make! That was the practi-cal side of Andy.
The portraits of my family that I especially love are a triptych in which he used various images of me along with my parents. People have rarely seen those; I own those too, and I cherish them.
The first art Andy ever gave me was a jewel painting for my birthday. I do love the “art can,” Campbell’s Soup. It is funny to talk about art and a can in the same sentence. The cans were real and they were art. Like Andy.
Fascinating is the one word I would pick to describe him. He went through so many phases: The sixties. Getting stabbed. The leather-jacket phase. Then the tuxedo jack-ets worn with jeans. Then he went around everywhere with a camera around his neck. He summed up and represented what was going on. By that I mean if he was doing it, it was happening. Or he was making things happen.
One funny thing I do remember was the night when we discussed painting my portrait. Around that time, he was doing portraits which made people look a little weird. When he mentioned he wanted to paint me, there was a bit of a silence and then, H [Halston] blurted out, “Well, not if it is going to be one of those weird ones you have been doing.” We all laughed about that.
Halston, Andy, and I lived so much in the public eye that it was nice to be together and get to be just who we really were: passionate people, who had a lot of interests and were good at what we did. We had moments together that were private, and it was nice. I would cook, or we would have dinner at H’s. Mostly we liked to spend time together at our homes because we could have our intimate time alone.
The funny thing about Andy was that he didn’t mind the misconceptions about him, because it was yet another way for him to retain his privacy. It was funny because we would hear these things that he supposedly did, and laugh about it. “Mmmm, well that makes a great story, but weren’t we having dinner when that reportedly happened?”
Above all, I would like my affection for him to come across. I just don’t think people think of him as this really nice guy. And you know what? He was.
10 Thank You andY Warhol | Todd Eberle Todd Eberle | Thank You andY Warhol 11
I first became aware of Andy Warhol around the same time I became aware of photog-raphy, around the age of twelve thanks to People, which I was devoted to since it first launched. What kept me glued to it was the weekly chronicle of Andy’s antics and his gang, the “Beautiful People,” at Studio 54. I made a pilgrimage every Tuesday to buy a copy when it hit the newsstands. I lived in a small town in central Florida called Howey-in-the Hills, so that wasn’t always easy. I began pasting every cover of the magazine on my bedroom walls; eventually the covers circled the perimeter of my room four times. People was my lifeline to the world beyond.
I noticed some People covers were much better than others and began paying atten-tion to the photo credits. Consistently, Francesco Scavullo took the very best photo-graphs. His covers made me aware that memorable and impactful photographs were made, and that notion of control became a major revelation.
One day, I saw the book Andy Warhol’s Exposures at a friend’s house. I had to have my own copy immediately so I made my mother drive the thirty miles to the mall where I found a remaindered copy for $1.99. It was like the curtain lifted, and I could see the great and powerful Oz, the door to a bigger universe I wanted to see for myself. My high school offered a class trip to New York so I borrowed money from my grandpar-ents and signed up. There are two things I remember from it: one memory is standing alone outside Halston’s showroom in the Olympic Tower, and the other is seeing Andy Warhol at Studio 54. Don’t ask me how I got in; I was 16. Actually, that may have had something to do with it.
After high school, I moved to New York with the sole mission of having a photograph published in Andy Warhol’s Interview. Andy existed for me as this talismanic figure. Without the knowledge of his existence, I don’t think I would have ever had the cour-age to make New York home. He made a life here seem possible.
Ed Ruscha once said that every art student who came to New York to go to school was a child of Andy Warhol’s. I was one of those kids. College would get me to New York. I was accepted to tuition-free Cooper Union based on a small portfolio of photographs. When I was told that I would not be able to take photography classes until the second year, I slacked off on the required courses and was asked to leave before the second year. Still, I was able to print a new portfolio before leaving with one intention in mind
– to get an assignment for Andy Warhol’s Interview.
todd eBerLe PhotograPherHe painted four of me, all of which I own. Later he did others, because there was no
place in the contract that could limit the number he could make! That was the practi-cal side of Andy.
The portraits of my family that I especially love are a triptych in which he used various images of me along with my parents. People have rarely seen those; I own those too, and I cherish them.
The first art Andy ever gave me was a jewel painting for my birthday. I do love the “art can,” Campbell’s Soup. It is funny to talk about art and a can in the same sentence. The cans were real and they were art. Like Andy.
Fascinating is the one word I would pick to describe him. He went through so many phases: The sixties. Getting stabbed. The leather-jacket phase. Then the tuxedo jack-ets worn with jeans. Then he went around everywhere with a camera around his neck. He summed up and represented what was going on. By that I mean if he was doing it, it was happening. Or he was making things happen.
One funny thing I do remember was the night when we discussed painting my portrait. Around that time, he was doing portraits which made people look a little weird. When he mentioned he wanted to paint me, there was a bit of a silence and then, H [Halston] blurted out, “Well, not if it is going to be one of those weird ones you have been doing.” We all laughed about that.
Halston, Andy, and I lived so much in the public eye that it was nice to be together and get to be just who we really were: passionate people, who had a lot of interests and were good at what we did. We had moments together that were private, and it was nice. I would cook, or we would have dinner at H’s. Mostly we liked to spend time together at our homes because we could have our intimate time alone.
The funny thing about Andy was that he didn’t mind the misconceptions about him, because it was yet another way for him to retain his privacy. It was funny because we would hear these things that he supposedly did, and laugh about it. “Mmmm, well that makes a great story, but weren’t we having dinner when that reportedly happened?”
Above all, I would like my affection for him to come across. I just don’t think people think of him as this really nice guy. And you know what? He was.
12 Thank You andY Warhol | Todd Eberle Ben House | Thank You andY Warhol 13
Magazines used to have open cattle-call days for portfolio reviews. The Factory at that time was located on 33rd Street and I remember standing in line with all these arrogant groovesters waiting for a chance to meet with Marc Balet, Interview’s art director, to show him my work. It seemed like everyone else just had this “I am the next hot-shit thing” attitude. When it was my turn, I sincerely asked Marc Balet for advice. Marc took me through the entire book and commented on every single picture. I was such a young kid at the time. He encouraged me, and told me to come back when I had more work.
When Andy died, my roommate Jack Pierson and I crashed his funeral party. Being amongst the mourners was as though I had stepped into one of the pages of Andy Warhol’s Exposures – Calvin Klein, Henry Geldzahler, Philip Johnson, David Hockney, Steve Rubell, Yoko Ono, Bianca Jagger, Debby Harry, and Chris Stein, and on that day I photographed them all. It was the rite of passage I had come to New York City for.
Tunafish Disaster is my favorite Warhol of all time. He made the anonymous house-wife who died from eating poisoned tuna fish a star on par with Marilyn or Liz. He made all of us, the great anonymous horde, feel we might be worthy. I thank him for everything, all of it.
12 Thank You andY Warhol | Todd Eberle Ben House | Thank You andY Warhol 13
Magazines used to have open cattle-call days for portfolio reviews. The Factory at that time was located on 33rd Street and I remember standing in line with all these arrogant groovesters waiting for a chance to meet with Marc Balet, Interview’s art director, to show him my work. It seemed like everyone else just had this “I am the next hot-shit thing” attitude. When it was my turn, I sincerely asked Marc Balet for advice. Marc took me through the entire book and commented on every single picture. I was such a young kid at the time. He encouraged me, and told me to come back when I had more work.
When Andy died, my roommate Jack Pierson and I crashed his funeral party. Being amongst the mourners was as though I had stepped into one of the pages of Andy Warhol’s Exposures – Calvin Klein, Henry Geldzahler, Philip Johnson, David Hockney, Steve Rubell, Yoko Ono, Bianca Jagger, Debby Harry, and Chris Stein, and on that day I photographed them all. It was the rite of passage I had come to New York City for.
Tunafish Disaster is my favorite Warhol of all time. He made the anonymous house-wife who died from eating poisoned tuna fish a star on par with Marilyn or Liz. He made all of us, the great anonymous horde, feel we might be worthy. I thank him for everything, all of it.
14 Thank You andY Warhol | Anthony Haden-Guest Anthony Haden-Guest | Thank You andY Warhol 15
I didn’t know Andy extremely well, but few people did. But I did think he was a witty and interesting person.
Irving Blum asked me about three months before Andy Warhol died, “Do you know who the most underrated artist in America is? Andy Warhol.” People forget that Andy was posthumously reincarnated. Andy was not held in high regard in the art world for many years. The early work was always highly regarded, but the later work was not. I think he felt like a B-lister most of the time. But I always liked him.
New York is remarkable. I came from London and nobody gave a shit about artists. Andy really made art part of the cultural continuum; that is very much Andy Warhol’s doing. We can certainly thank him for that.
Even at his peak he was in some ways an outsider’s artist. I don’t think he was being shrewd and calculating: I think he was getting messages from beyond. I thank Andy Warhol for making New York City a great deal more culturally relevant.
I don’t know if he was an angel or a devil or just a good deal of both, like the rest of us. I miss the guy and the art world misses the guy. Andy had an eye for people with a degree of singularity, which was yet another of his talents.
anthony haden-Guest Writer & cartoonist
© Anthony Haden Guest
14 Thank You andY Warhol | Anthony Haden-Guest Anthony Haden-Guest | Thank You andY Warhol 15
I didn’t know Andy extremely well, but few people did. But I did think he was a witty and interesting person.
Irving Blum asked me about three months before Andy Warhol died, “Do you know who the most underrated artist in America is? Andy Warhol.” People forget that Andy was posthumously reincarnated. Andy was not held in high regard in the art world for many years. The early work was always highly regarded, but the later work was not. I think he felt like a B-lister most of the time. But I always liked him.
New York is remarkable. I came from London and nobody gave a shit about artists. Andy really made art part of the cultural continuum; that is very much Andy Warhol’s doing. We can certainly thank him for that.
Even at his peak he was in some ways an outsider’s artist. I don’t think he was being shrewd and calculating: I think he was getting messages from beyond. I thank Andy Warhol for making New York City a great deal more culturally relevant.
I don’t know if he was an angel or a devil or just a good deal of both, like the rest of us. I miss the guy and the art world misses the guy. Andy had an eye for people with a degree of singularity, which was yet another of his talents.
anthony haden-Guest Writer & cartoonist
© Anthony Haden Guest
16 Thank You andY Warhol | Stefan Sagmeister Stefan Sagmeister | Thank You andY Warhol 17
After Andy died he was much more respected by the “art world.” Just prior to his death a lot of people had dismissed him. By the 1980s, he had been around and famous for so long. He had done a lot crap to finance a lot of his projects. And some of that crap was quite visible.
But since his death, there has been the inevitable reevaluation of the work. He was always popular with the public or the general audience, but we see him differently now. Today’s art stars have modeled themselves more after Warhol more than anyone else.
I have always had an affinity for him because of the history of his career: he started as an illustrator and a graphic artist. He won awards for early commercial work, so he had a big career before he switched over to the art world. He is the best example, and the most successful, of an artist who has switched back and forth between those two worlds.
Some of the “commercial” work he made after he was an established fine artist is some of his best work, bar none. His album covers for The Rolling Stones (Sticky Fingers) and the Velvet Underground are so much better than so much of his artwork. By “bet-ter,” I mean more touching.
He seemed to have put a tremendous amount of energy into those covers; they are very carefully designed and beautifully produced. When he created them, he used his fame and star power. By that I mean it was unlikely that an unknown artist would have been able to persuade record companies to spend the extra money to produce art with those extreme production challenges and difficulties. Think about it. Having a zipper on an album cover? That was not an easy feat. It was expensive and it de-stroyed the records next to it. And the banana? With the peel, that you could actually peel. That also required extra cost and added necessary attention to production. Both covers are very interactive. The most legendary and memorable designs have always involved the viewer.
If the music is great and the design is breakthrough then you have something that lasts and is relevant. Those two albums covers are extremely iconographic. They both work basically as logos. They were fun and in the best sense, Pop Art.
stefan saGMeIster graPhic designer
Self-Confidence Produces Fine Results, 2008, Deitch Projects © Stefan Sagmeister
16 Thank You andY Warhol | Stefan Sagmeister Stefan Sagmeister | Thank You andY Warhol 17
After Andy died he was much more respected by the “art world.” Just prior to his death a lot of people had dismissed him. By the 1980s, he had been around and famous for so long. He had done a lot crap to finance a lot of his projects. And some of that crap was quite visible.
But since his death, there has been the inevitable reevaluation of the work. He was always popular with the public or the general audience, but we see him differently now. Today’s art stars have modeled themselves more after Warhol more than anyone else.
I have always had an affinity for him because of the history of his career: he started as an illustrator and a graphic artist. He won awards for early commercial work, so he had a big career before he switched over to the art world. He is the best example, and the most successful, of an artist who has switched back and forth between those two worlds.
Some of the “commercial” work he made after he was an established fine artist is some of his best work, bar none. His album covers for The Rolling Stones (Sticky Fingers) and the Velvet Underground are so much better than so much of his artwork. By “bet-ter,” I mean more touching.
He seemed to have put a tremendous amount of energy into those covers; they are very carefully designed and beautifully produced. When he created them, he used his fame and star power. By that I mean it was unlikely that an unknown artist would have been able to persuade record companies to spend the extra money to produce art with those extreme production challenges and difficulties. Think about it. Having a zipper on an album cover? That was not an easy feat. It was expensive and it de-stroyed the records next to it. And the banana? With the peel, that you could actually peel. That also required extra cost and added necessary attention to production. Both covers are very interactive. The most legendary and memorable designs have always involved the viewer.
If the music is great and the design is breakthrough then you have something that lasts and is relevant. Those two albums covers are extremely iconographic. They both work basically as logos. They were fun and in the best sense, Pop Art.
stefan saGMeIster graPhic designer
Self-Confidence Produces Fine Results, 2008, Deitch Projects © Stefan Sagmeister
The Thank You Andy Warhol project began one morn-ing in January, 2011, when author Catherine Johnson realized she was in the middle of the economic de-pression that was crippling her creative community and felt herself “frozen.” She wondered, ‘What would Andy do?’ and realized he would adapt the way he had time and again during his lifetime. His work and ethos had always inspired her and she was sure it had had the same effect on others, and decided to pose the question of what influence his life and work had had to more than 80 of his friends, friends of friends, and those who had been touched by his life and work. She was astonished by the speed, variety, breadth, and abundance of considered responses and the art-works that each found most influential in his or her life. Just some of the luminaries interviewed here include, Frances Grill, Ivan Karp, Billy Name, Brigid Berlin, Danny Fields, Ken Heyman, Bibbe Hansen, George Lois, Gretchen Berg, Vincent Freemont, Bob Colacello, Sylvia Miles, Christopher Makos, Liza Min-nelli, Patrick McDonald, Kenny Scharf, Vik Muniz, Simon Doonan, Ryan McGinness, Eric Shiner, and Jamie Warhola. What started as a single inquiry has resulted in the only truly personal biography of the greatest artist of our time.
aBout the author New Yorker Catherine Johnson was born in South Carolina and moved to New York City in the 1980s, where she continues to work as a freelance art producer and book editor. She began her career in photography representing the British photographer Norman Parkinson in North America. Published books for which she has been an
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editor and/or creative consultant include: Stieglitz and Photo-Secession: 1902 (Studio Books/2002); The Luminous Years: Portraits at Mid-Century by Karl Bissinger (Abrams/2003); and Paris: 1962 (Rizzo-li/2008). She is the author of Dogs (Phaidon/2007), her collection of vernacular vintage photographs on the subject. Her advertising clients have included Nike, Bermuda Tourism, and Ralph Lauren, and she has served as the Chair of Photography Committee and on the Board of Governors at the National Arts Club in New York City from 2006-2009.
speCIfICatIons 256 pages, 7 ¾ x 8 3/4, jacketed hardcover; 25 four-color photographs and paintings, 60,000 words $50; ISBN13: 978-0-9851696-0-2
andy WarhoL dIed In feBruary More than tWo deCades aGo, and We stILL are taLkInG aBout hIs LIfe, hIs Work, and hIs WIG.these storIes Just BeGIn to expLaIn Why.
