Andy Warhol once said something about fame that became very popular and is still repeated today. He said that in the future, everybody will be famous for fifteen minutes. Warhol certainly enjoyed being well known. He created a very unusual public personality. He would wear strange wigs on his head made of white hair. He would go out every night to parties and other social gatherings where there were beautiful and important people. He would talk to reporters in a very shy manner. Often he would provide unclear answers to their questions. Here is a recording of Andy Warhol being asked about his art. It is from a nineteen ninety-one documentary film about Warhol’s life.
(WARHOL)
VOICE ONE:
Andy Warhol was much more than just a painter. He was also a film maker, publisher, and manager of a rock band. For example, he produced several low budget art films in the early nineteen sixties. One was called “Empire”. It showed a filmed image of the Empire State Building in New York City. The film was eight hours long. In the movie “Sleep” Warhol recorded a friend sleeping. The film lasts six hours. When asked about the uneventful nature of these films, Warhol answered that he liked boring or uninteresting things.
VOICE TWO:
In the middle nineteen sixties Warhol also managed a rock band called The Velvet Underground. He helped produce one of their records and designed the cover of the album.
Another of Warhol’s projects was the creation of “Interview” magazine. This magazine covered many kinds of American popular culture. Andy Warhol was able to interview the kinds of people he liked best, famous people. A colorful drawing of a famous person was on the cover of every issue of the magazine. The image was drawn in the style of Warhol’s paintings.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
In nineteen sixty-eight Andy Warhol was shot by a woman who had been in one of his films. Valerie Solanas was angry with Warhol for not making a movie based on a play she wrote. The bullet from the gun hit several of Warhol’s organs and almost killed him. The media’s reaction to this event made him even more famous.
VOICE TWO:
Even though he worked on many other projects, Andy Warhol always kept producing artwork. In the nineteen seventies he made millions of dollars painting people’s portraits. Wealthy people all over the world paid a great deal of money to have him paint their picture. In the nineteen eighties Warhol worked with several younger artists. They included Jean Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. Warhol also wrote several books and created two cable television programs.
VOICE ONE:
Warhol’s art would have surely continued in many new directions. But he died as a result of problems after a minor operation in nineteen eighty-seven. He was fifty-eight years old. At his death, Warhol’s total estimated worth was more than one hundred million dollars. Most of this money helped create the Andy Warhol Foundation which helps support the visual arts.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
In nineteen ninety-four the Andy Warhol Museum opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This museum is in a large industrial building. As you walk up the seven floors of the museum, you can see more than five hundred works of art by Warhol. The museum has pieces from every period of his career.
VOICE ONE:
On the fifth floor there is a special exhibit called Silver Clouds. This room is based on an art gallery show that Warhol designed in nineteen sixty-six. The room is filled with many silver colored balloons that are square shaped. The balloons contain helium and oxygen so that they float around with the air currents. Warhol’s idea was to create a joyful and magical room in which the artwork moved around the visitors.
VOICE TWO:
Andy Warhol helped change the way the world defined modern art. His colorful Pop Art images and unusual personality made him one of the most famous and important people in American art and culture.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I’m Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Barbara Klein. Join us again next week for PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English.
