Interview

14 ARTISTS REFLECT HIS VISION, AND DOZENS OF FRIENDS REMEMBER HIM.

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WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION OF ANDY?
Francesco Clemente: A mirror with eyes.

Patti D'arbanville: I thought he was a perv.

Dennis Hopper: I thought he was a terrific artist-everybody had been talking about the return to reality of abstract expressionism. And so when Irving Blum showed me a soup-can painting in Los Angeles and a cartoon by Roy Lichtenstein, I started jumping up and down, saying "That's it! that's it!" And he said, "That's what?" And I said, "That's a return to reality." And he said, "Really? What are you doing tomorrow?" I said, "Nothing." He said, "let's go to New York." and that's what led up to meeting Andy and meeting Roy and [Claes] Oldenburg, Jasper Johns and so on. Henry Geldzahler introduced us to all the pop artists.


Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran): Meeting people you admire is a dangerous sport, and, more often than not, you end up wounded. with Andy, this was simply not the case. Arriving at the Factory was like walking on a movie set: paintings everywhere, Brigid Berlin and Fred Hughes and an army of helpers. but Andy was as curious to meet the band as we were to meet him. He was shy but sharp, witty, and full of nervous energy.


Paloma Picasso: That he was as shy as I was and that you shouldn't touch him. I realize now that it was not that long after the shooting.

Viva: Shy.

Bob Colacello: So sweet for someone so famous. That was not my lasting impression.


John Giorno: I took hold of his limp hand, squeezed and held it, and we looked into each other's eyes. Andy hummed, "Ohhhh!"

Robert Heide: He was wearing dark glases and a shirt and tie with dungarees well before anyone else thought of that dress-up dress-down shabby-chic combination.


Benjamin Liu: Andy had a ghost-like quality. he seemed to be there and not there at the same time.

Kenny Scharf: My first impression of him was funny, as he tried to get one of his entourage to kiss me.

Ultra Violet: I felt as if I knew him. I felt drawn to him. "Oh, you're so beautiful," Warhol said. "you should be on film. Can we do a movie together?" The next day I went to the Factory and I barely saw him against the silvery background of the walls. He was an alien.

Billy Sullivan: I thought, wow, he's so easy to be around.

Susan Blond: Well, I loved him. The first thing he said to me was, "I love your name. I love your voice. you're going to be in all our movies."

Betsey Johnson: A silent, mysterious spirit.

Calvin Klein: We all knew Andy as a downtown club figure, artist, and the owner of Interview. With his white wig, white skin, and owlish glasses, he was certainly different looking. but he was always so nice and actually quite meek in person. My first impression of him was that he was incredibly shy.

Debbie Harry : I met Andy originally in the late '60s. I served him dinner in the back room at Max's Kansas City. I was still a teenager, and he seemed like no one I had met before-Soft-spoken but not shy. Then we met again in the mid-'70s, when Chris Stein and I were walking on Broadway below Union Square. He just said Hi, and we did too. He really had a very musical voice.

Tom Cashin : His love for his dog! Ordering Archie a steak at the Hôtel de Crillon! For a guy like me from Brooklyn, that was over-the-top. But, as time went on, I had plenty of steaks, thanks to Andy.