I’m not sure that Andy Warhol was thinking of branding when he decided to turn himself into an art star. He was probably thinking of Jackson Pollack who became the leading Abstract Expressionist because he had the Macho charismatic personality people related to. Andy wasn’t macho or very charismatic, but he was determined and he accomplished the same thing by going the opposite way – by being super gay (most gay artists at that time at least pretended to be in the closet) and totally erasing his personality, which led to all kinds of attention getting rumors: he was too shy to answer the phone, he never had sex, he was frail, dyslexic, hairless, a space alien. When I met him I had the bizarre urge to protect him, or help him, which many people did. Then I started copying him, like all the Factory people did. We sported black pants, leather jackets, white skin, and sunglasses. We didn’t say much in public and only came out at night – and a strange thing happened. We were considered the in crowd. Suddenly I wasn’t middleclass Mary from Brooklyn, who dropped out of college and didn’t have a boyfriend. I gave all that up in order to live inside other people’s imaginations. It was a 24/7 job but so what, I was a super star. I did everything not to disappoint them; be cool even though the turtle was strangling some ass hole in the bathroom, take drugs, look like you’ve been there, take drugs, wear the same uniform, don’t laugh unless it’s with other factory members, and hang out.
Let’s get one thing straight; Warhol knew what he was doing. Why else would he give us all funny names and call us Warhol super stars if not to keep the focus on himself. He wasn’t faint, frail or nelly. He was a workaholic, competitive, and a sweet guy, if you ask his nephews who came to visit Uncle Andy every year. Of course that didn’t mean he took off his wig in front of them.
So why would someone give up their normal life to live in the public’s imagination? True, the attention, and escape from reality are addictive, but Andy wanted to be the most famous Pop artist and he succeeded. Jasper Johns is a better painter but the name Warhol means Pop art like Disney means cartoon. Mr. Johns might be forgotten but he is still a person where as Andy, by making himself a cartoon, will always be the Mickey Mouse of Pop and his corporation the richest. The problem with handing over your personality to the devil is that he doesn’t give it back. People move on but you remain, a ghost without a personality, haunting the places you’re famous for.
Artillery Magazine Vol 2 no. 3 January 2008