Andy Warhol — страница 2

  • Просмотров 794
  • Скачиваний 9
  • Размер файла 20
    Кб

book about cats and “*censored* heaven”, where all cats went. This book was an interesting mixture of his mother’s folk art background and his unique styling. Over this time Andy Warhol had his world famous silver covered “Factory” and his constantly revolving entourage and hangers-on. One of the so-called crazy people that Andy let hang around was Valerie Solanas. She surprised him one day in the Factory and shot him twice with a thirty-two. The bullets ripped through his stomach, spleen, liver, esophagus, and both lungs. At one point Andy Warhol was pronounced dead, but it was not yet his time. The more reputable denizens of the Factory, the people who both influenced and were influenced by Andy Warhol, each in their own way made a contribution to art. Everyone who

frequented the Factory had his or her own futures and pasts, be it the guy sweeping the floors or the Beat poets who dropped by. Celebrities and United States Presidents, even foreign royalty knew Andy Warhol. This man’s workshop was both a breeding ground of art and a place for gathering and partying. In a cool and withdrawn manner Andy Warhol governed an empire of art that stretched in every conceivable direction. Curiously, the other prominent artists of the time, such as Jasper Johns, avoided contact with Andy Warhol. This has been largely attributed to his open stance on his homosexuality. At the time it was considered more appropriate for the male painters to be macho. This can be seen in Jasper Johns’ cigarettes hanging out of his mouth as he paints his canvases, and

his macho stance in other aspects. All the while these prominent artists were privately gay, but were rather scared of Warhol’s stance on his public life. This is rather inconsequential, however, as Warhol Page 3 much preferred the fringe of society. He practically collected the outcasts; occasionally promoting artists, such as he did with Jean-Michel Basquait. Yet the promotion and friendship did not stop at painting. Andy Warhol had an association with the Velvet Underground, and was friends with the Rolling Stones. Andy Warhol’s commercial art background was still put to use after he became the new art sensation. Perhaps the only reason he put these skills to use was because of his involvement with his friends in the music industry, the Velvet Underground and to some

extent the Rolling Stones. Andy actively participated in the rise of the Velvet Underground. In the early Seventies they were quite stylish, in large part due to their interaction with Warhol and his various associates. Andy Warhol even designed the cover for their albums. One cover specifically evokes Pop Art. One might say the large, plain banana with the dotted pattern more resembles Liechtenstein than Warhol. Regardless, this was not the only album cover Andy Warhol did. He also did the original work for the Rolling Stones album, Sticky Fingers. It featured an actual canvas depiction of blue jeans complete with a working zipper. This was more in line with Warhol, keeping with his shock value ideas. The Sticky Fingers album cover was not the only interaction Andy Warhol had

with the Rolling Stones. Warhol did a number of unique portraits for his friends and colleagues, largely as favors and gifts. The list perhaps reads like a virtual who’s who of the day. Truman Capote, Mick Jagger, Princess Caroline and Michael Jackson were in the number of the sitters for Andy Warhol. As self-restrained and quiet Andy Warhol was, he still somehow managed to interact with an amazing number of artists of the day. The list of Andy Warhol’s friends and colleagues is perhaps best started with Jed Johnson. Jed was a very young man when he was adopted into the Factory. He was admitted on the condition that he swept the floors daily. This he gratefully agreed to do. Over time he and Andy Warhol grew very close, eventually he moved in with Andy and his mother. Some

say that they became lovers, but this is rather inconsequential. It was discovered at some point that Jed Johnson was a great interior decorator. Jed beautifully decorated the interior of Warhol’s spacious seventeen bedroom flat in New York. In later years Jed Johnson became quite sought after, decorating for Mick Jagger, Barbra Striesand, and Richard Gere. Jed’s life, however, was cut short when he was traveling in the TWA flight that wrecked off of New York in 1996. The next to be talked about, perhaps the next adoption of the factory, was Jean-Michel Basquait. A high school dropout at the age of seventeen, Basquait developed his unique style in Page 4 the subway system of New York. Jean-Michel was absorbed in the newest wave of fashion, graffiti. His style blended an eye