Andy Warhol: The Face Interview

by Fiona Russell Powell

" I have nothing to say - read my books" is Andy Warhol's standard riposte to most would-be interviewers. David Yarritu — a former assistant of his — and I were hoping Andy would say this to us because we had no intention of mentioning Edie, The Velvet Underground or soup cans, but instead he pushed an apple pie at us and suggested we joined him "working out" after we'd eaten. Andy Warhol — the quintessence of Sixties pop art and the ultimate dinner party guest — has, naturally enough, got into the new American obsession: health, fitness and diet. He has a rigorous exercise routine which he carries out daily in the new 'Factory', a former Con Edison building between 32nd and Madison . As with the old Union Square Factory, he has found another unobtrusive warehouse-type building. Valuable pieces from Andy's private art collection are propped against the walls as you walk through the white wood corridor from the front of the building (where the Interview magazine offices are) to Andy's studio: a vast room which once housed the generators for the plant. One corner of the room is a mini-gym complete with a Yugoslavian physical fitness trainer on hand at all times. More boxes of Andy's belongings are grouped in another corner, with a large crumpled-up Jean-Michel Basquiat painting worth thousands of dollars thrown on top. On the floor are discarded silk screens of Sean Lennon. Two commissioned portraits of a Houston businessman are awaiting collection and a portrait of Jean Cocteau is propped upside down beneath a projector.

Inside Andy's studio, it's like a hotel lobby. People wander in and out constantly: a woman puts some tiny galoshes on Andy's pet dog and takes it for a walk, a photographer tiptoes around the paintings on the floor to photograph Andy who takes all these intrusions as a matter of course and continues working. He has projected the word PEACE onto the wall and is painting the huge black letters. After about ten minutes, he breaks off to lift some bar-bells, do a few sit-ups on the bench press, then back to the peace painting. He's wearing his uniform of black trousers and a black polo-neck jumper. I had met Andy twice that week. My impression of him up to that point was that he is a party voyeur.

He tends to stand in the background and watches, neither eating nor drinking. He has the limpest handshake I've ever encountered and the driest skin. He stutters a lot and seems to be most impressed by pop stars and royalty. He appears to be very fragile and one instinctively feels protective towards him. I got the feeling that although Andy has a bad memory, the vague, semi-senile act of his is just a way of avoiding awkward questions and people. On the other hand, sometimes he really hasn't a clue. He likes testing people, hanging out with Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Still involved in music, he directed the video for The Cars' US hit "Hello Again". He takes cabs everywhere, hates to admit that he wears a wig and did a centerfold in full drag for Art Forum last year. Andy Warhol - a man who needs no introduction.

Interview: Fiona Russell Powell

Photos: Christopher Mokos

FRP: Tell me about your Italian lipstain.

ANDY WARHOL: Oh that - it's my favourite kind of lipstick you know. It stains your lips and it stays on forever. It's the stuff morticians use on dead people. Maybe that's why I was attracted to it.

DAVID YARRITU: Do you still wear a lot of make-up?

Oh yes, I still wear a lot of make-up, especially at night. I like putting it on. Make-up's great.

FRP: What's that tiny flesh-coloured rubber thing on your car?

Oh I go to an acu-acu-acupressurist.

FRP: What's the difference between acupressure and acupuncture?

Well, they don't break the skin, they just sort of take a hammer, well no, it's really more like a staple-gun but without the staple and they put it up to your ear and they push a little bebe inside - a bebe is a little silver ball – they press it into your ear and it really doesn't hurt.

DY: You've become very health conscious haven't you?

Yes, we're doing a whole Interview issue on health, maybe that's why.

FRP: When is your next book, Andy Warhol's America , coming out?

Oh, I don't know, I'm trying to push it, I guess they . . . um, I hope it'll be out this year. It's just going to be a photo-book of things in America that interest me.

FRP: And you've been working on a set of prints called Queens .

Yes, I've been doing that.

FRP: Are you one of them?

Er, er, oh well, everybody knows that I'm a queen . . . but the prints are of royal ones and stuff. There are just four queens; I did an African queen and she's great.

FRP: What else are you working on?

Well we're trying to do this 15-minute show, it's called 15-Minutes and it's for MTV which is my favourite channel and I'm still in love with Nick Rhodes.

FRP: You're joking aren't you?

No, really, I love him; I worship him, what's wrong with that? And we give each other make-up tips and we trade make-up.

DY: Do you like their music as well?

Oh I really like their videos, they have the best videos. They didn't have enough of Nick Rhodes on that peace record though; there's a lot of Simon on it but Nick just comes in at the end.

DY: Are you still working on some lyrics for the group Japan or did that all fall through?

Oh, what is his name? ... David something...

FRP & DY: Sylvian!

Yeah, oh, what happened to him?

FRP: He hasn't done very much for ages.

Oh really, why? He was so cute. God, he was so cute. I really liked him a lot. He's not doing anything? Why not? Does he wear make-up?

DY: God, yes, he wears tons!

FRP: What did happen to the lyrics?

Well, because he went back to England and then he went to Japan so it was sort of hard for us to get together. Anyway, it was only going to be one line.

FRP: What was the line?

That's what we were having trouble deciding.

FRP: I understand that you have one of the largest pornography collections in the world. Is this true?

Oh, er, like what. Well, not really.

DY: But didn't you take loads of Polaroids of everybody's cocks?

Well, I met a couple of English girls and they were going out with these boys and that's all they ever talked about. Oh, those English girls, they love big cocks.

FRP: Size queens we call them.

Oh I like that name. Well, I thought it would be really great to take some Polaroids. That was for a show that I was doing about the human body.

FRP: I know a boy with a pierced cock, that's quite interesting.

Gosh, I've never met anyone with a pierced cock. That's really wild. Well. I want to get my ears pierced first. I think men should wear earrings, really I do. The big pearl kind or the long dripping ones, not the little ones that men usually wear but the big huge ones. I like to wear the big clip-ons but they're so heavy they fall off. You know, the reason women live longer than men is because they wear those long crystal and diamond earrings. Crystals are full of life-force and energy. That's why I carry my crystals around on my person the whole time . . . (Andy searches his pockets and eventually extracts a velvet pouch containing two rough-cut quartz crystals). See, they're numbered and have my initials on them and everything!

FRP: Do you have a special diet or eat at special health food places?

I like Mr. Chow's. You know, I paid a visit to the nutritionist the other day, Benjamin (Andy's assistant) came with me. They pricked my finger and my blood flowed really easily but they had to prick Benjamin's finger twice and his blood wouldn't come out at all. It was all congealed. I could see my blood on a son of video screen, it was all swirling around in patterns; it was really pretty. And even though Benjamin and I have different types of blood we both got given the same prescription.

DY: I heard that your mother used to make these little tin flowers and sell them to help support you in the early days.

Oh God. yes, it's true, the tin flowers were made out of those fruit cans, that's the reason why I did my first tin-can paintings . . . You take a tin-can. The bigger the tin-can the better, like the family size ones that peach halves come in, and I think you cut them with scissors. It's very easy and you just make flowers out of them. My mother always had lots of cans around, including the soup cans.

FRP: Is it true that you've recorded every telephone conversation you've had over the last 20 years?

No, I used to . . . but I don't anymore. I stopped.

FRP: Why?

Well. I guess, after I got shot, then I was afraid of people. So the people I thought were interesting, well, they weren't interesting to me anymore.

FRP: Do you still have the tapes?

Oh yeah. They're all in a box but I haven't listened to them in a long time.

FRP: What are you going to do with them?

Well. I keep throwing all of my junk mail into boxes. You see, I think everyone should sell their junk mail, like a dollar apiece. Maybe I'll sell my tapes. Keith (Haring) is opening up a shop so maybe we can sell everything there. I think junk mail is so great, don't you? Do you get great junk mail?

FRP: What is junk mail?

You know, catalogues for weird things. All those invitations to discos and openings.

FRP: Oh, I know what you mean, I put them in my scrap books. You must get a lot of it - how do you get through all your mail?

We just throw it in a box. It's called Andy Warhol's Junk Mail Box.

FRP: Don't you read it?

Yeah, I look through it. I like those Area invitations. They send the best presents.

FRP: What's going to happen to all of your things like your art collection when you die?

I'm dead already.

FRP: No you're not, you're a living legend.

No, I'm not. I don't think that's so.

DY: You know that Marcel Duchamp has all his stuff in Philadelphia - they have his complete collection except for maybe one or two things. There was this collector, a Mr. Annenberg, who made this contract that says the museum has to keep everything displayed for 25 years after his death.

Oh really. I didn't know that. You know, we were going to do this project called "24 hours in Marcel Duchamp's Life", and we had someone to pay for it and everything. It was going to be like our Empire State Building , we were going to shoot him for 24 hours, it would have been really great but then he died. But I still have a couple of three-minute rolls of film of him.

FRP: So you don't want to will all your possessions to a museum or an art institution?

Well, we have this building here, and the magazine's here, so it's going to be around.

FRP: How many wigs do you have?

Ah, about 400. Actually my favourite wigs are from Stephen Sprouse. He gave me some for Christmas and they're beautiful, they're really great. Stephen had them made specially for me - I should have worn one today, that would have been really great. He did them in the same colour of hair that I'm wearing now. But I want something more unusual like red or brown or something like that. I'll have Christiaan make me some of them . . .I'm not sure if I've met Christiaan yet, maybe I went to the White House for dinner with him.

Would he be likely to be a friend of Bianca Jagger's?

DY: I'm sure.

Maybe she's the one that took him to the White House.

FRP: You're a Zoli model, aren't you?

No, I'm a Ford model now. I traded when Zoli died.

FRP: I didn't even know he was dead.

He died last year sometime. Zoli was a really great guy.

FRP: Why did you take up modelling – after all, you don't need the money?

Well. I took up modelling because I'm so nervous and I thought that if I did a lot of runway work, I would get over being nervous but actually it's made me twice as nervous.

FRP: Why are you so nervous - you're surrounded by people all the time?

I don't know really, it's to do with being shot. I wasn't nervous before that.

DY: Do you realise how enormous your influence is?

On younger drag queens?

DY: No! On pop music. Are you familiar with Malcolm McLaren and the whole Frankie Goes To Hollywood phenomena -

Oh. Frankie was standing right here (points to the floor).

FRP: You mean Holly.

Holly? Holly? No, it was Frankie, he's sort of small.

DY: That's Holly, Andy.

Are you sure? … well, what happened to Boy George? Why is everybody not liking him anymore?

FRP: It's a long story …basically, George is nice underneath it all but he spends too much time with Marilyn. They phoned me up from Paris about a month ago making threats and everything after I criticised George's album. George is all talk but Marilyn . . Susan, who works for CBS Records, really pushed him (Marilyn) here in the United States and he really turned on her. It was so awful after all the work she'd done for him, I just couldn't believe it.

Why is he like that?

FRP: I could tell you but I shan't. I think we should talk some more about your robot.

The robot, yeah. It's actually going to be an off-Broadway play. It's produced by the same guy that did Annie, he's called Louis Allen. They're working on it. it cost 500,000 dollars to build.

FRP: Are you going to record something for it?

Well, I was supposed to but actually I wanted Truman Capote to do the voice instead of me. His voice would have been more peculiar.

FRP: How did he talk?

It was really funny.

FRP: So what's the name of the show?

It's called Nothing Special. It's just going to be things from the philosophy book. Peter Sellars is the director - he was the one that did the Tommy Tune and Twiggy show.

FRP: Tell me about the time capsule. What arc you going to put in it?

Oh - the time capsule. I don't know, anything that we have around. They're just boxes of junk that go all the way back to 1970 or 1968.

DY: Are you going to bury them?

Well, I don't know. All you need is a nice little water leak and they just disintegrate.

FRP: I heard you were trying to get your own cable TV network.

Yes, I think people will look at anything. You know Brigid, our receptionist (one of the original Sixties Warhol people, Brigid Polk), well we have a camera by the door pointed out on the street and she's really fascinated by it. People will look at anything, don't you think? I do.

FRP: But you still haven't done it yet. Is it just too expensive to buy your own cable?

No, actually, you can just talk the Mayor into it. He'll just give you one if you ask for one.

DY: What would you put on your network?

Oh, people like you two. You know David, you should be in a band.

DY: I'm already in a band, so is Fiona but she's in disguise.

What do you look like Fiona?

FRP: Oh, completely different, no-one ever recognises me. I put this big wig on - it's like a drag act really.

Stephen Sprouse has a whole look that he does with wigs - he looks so great in drag.

Have you seen him out?

DY: I don't think he goes out very much anymore. I saw Steven Meisel out in a good wig the other night.

FRP: Aren't Steven Meisel and Terri Toye married?

That was just meant to be a joke. They had an engagement party but it wasn't for real. Can you imagine, a drag queen and a sex change married?

FRP: Steven Meisel could have a sex change as well and then they could become lesbian lovers and adopt a Hispanic baby! Is Terri still modelling for Stephen Sprouse?

Andy, you're always saying everything's so wonderful and great - is there anything you don't like?

I like everything because it's hard to make a movie, it's hard to do a play, it's hard to bake a cake, it's hard to eat, it's hard to do anything.

FRP: What do you do when at home in your apartment uptown?

I'm not home very much but when I am I just watch MTV.

FRP: All the time?

Well, I have to see my friend Nick, I've got to catch him in "Wild Boys" . . . actually, I masturbate to Duran Duran videos, Simon's also really cute and one day he's going to be a great actor.

FRP: Have you got a houseboy?

Oh gosh, well, as I said, MTV keeps me entertained most of the time. I also really liked that show called The Thorn Birds with Rachel Ward. I was on the set of Dynasty recently because I had to go down to be in an episode of LoveBoat.

FRP: What are you doing in that?

I just play myself. Benjamin's in it as well.

FRP: The last episode of Dynasty I saw in England had Henry Kissinger and Gerald Ford in it. It was so outrageous - like having Margaret Thatcher on Coronation Street .

Oh I don't know. We've got a movie star for a president now. I thought we'd move onto the astronaut; I voted for him, the film was so good. The astronaut should have won.

FRP: Your vigorous exercise routine has built your body into great shape. A lot of people have asked me to ask you why you keep it covered up all the time.

I wouldn't say that I'm in great shape but you know, I have the most terrible scars from where I was shot, so I don't like to show them.

FRP: Would you call yourself a romantic?

Oh yeah, my heart's been broken several times . . . You know, I think they should bring back the Stage Door Johnnies - the ones that used to send the limos and the flowers and the boxes of chocolates. Whatever happened to them?

FRP: I think they disappeared when The Pill came on the scene. Do you have a bodyguard now?

Well, I don't think many people would risk messing with Benjamin. He does a great drag act Fiona, you should see it.

FRP: Yes, I know, Ming Vase. I saw her at Eric Goode's birthday party. Benjamin's got great legs.

Yeah - Bodyguard by day, drag queen by night. Wouldn't that be a great book title?