25 years ago my boss at Blue Danube Radio told me to try and get an interview with one of the world's most famous celebrities. I had interviewed lots of important people by then but never anyone as BIG as Andy Warhol. His solo exhibition "Reversals" was opening at the Museum of Modern Art's 20-er Haus and like lots of other journalists I went there in hopes of grabbing a few minutes with Warhol. Okay, I certainly knew all about him given the fact I'd lived in New York City in the 1970s (when his "Factory" was all the rage, when the rich and famous flocked to his nightclub, where some cinemas were brave enough to show his underground, often pornoraphic movies and when the "cool" magazine to read was his publication "Interview") but the very idea of interviewing him about his life (interesting and at times outrageous) and work (ground-breakingly controversial for the artworld) was awesome. So, the only thing to do was to read everything I could get my hands on (pre-internet, pre-faxes even) about him. Thank god the American embassy had a great library!
So who is Andy Warhol?
Born in 1928 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Slovakian-American immigrants (who named him Andrew Warhola), Andy Warhol had talent. He was great at both drawing and painting. But, more importantly, he had a dream of one day being rich and famous. After studying comercial art in Pennsylvania he headed to New York City. It was 1949. Working freelance for magazines like VOGUE and HARPER's BAZAAR, Andy Warhol soon became one of America's most wanted commercial illustrators.
Three years later, in 1952, the Hugo Gallery in NYC exhibited the first Warhol one-man show. Four years later his work was being exhibited in the most famous Musuem of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York.
But was it art?
What Warhol painted and drew were replications of simple objects from daily life - soup cans and coke bottles, for example. He also used the silkscreen technique to reflect his take on popular personalities like Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson and on and on... And, he did it on a mass basis at his art studio which soon became known to the artworld as "The Factory."
Working at the "Factory" was chaotic and bizarre as it was also the setting for some 300 underground movies, produced and directed by Andy warhol. One called "Sleep" showed nothing else but a man sleeping for 6 very long hours.
"The Factory" operated around the clock with so-called artworkers producing mass copies of Andy's work, where underground actors were filmed late at night in sometimes pornographic movies. In fact one of "The Factory" workers, Valerie Solanis, felt Warhol was working her too hard and had too much control over her life. So, she tried to kill him in 1968 with 3 gunshots to his chest. Warhol never completely recovered and wore bandages around his waist for the rest of his life.
A true workaholic who new everybody everywhere, Andy Warhol went on to influence generations of artists like Keith Haring and Robert Mappelthrope. He died on February 22, 1987 after a gall bladder operation. And, more than 2,000 people attended his funeral at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral. Few of them knew before then that this Prince of Pop was also a religious man.
But what about my 1 minute interview
So, I had learned all this, had done my homework and was ready to approach Andy Warhol during the press conference and preview of "Reversals" at the 20-er Haus in Vienna. Thing is, getting him to talk to me wasn't that easy. And, remember this was 25 years ago (so now you can try and guess my age) and I still could sometimes get nervous before an interview.
No luck at the press conference (which I foolishly didn't record). He said one sentence and then basically told us to check-out the exhibition and decide for ourselves what he was all about. I edged my way up to the press conference table and asked for an interview: "No" he said, "try later" after I'd seen the show. So, I whirled around the room, checked-it out, all the time keeping my eyes on Warhol. I was stalking him and he knew it. Three more times I approached Warhol, asking for just a few minutes of his time. Finally, he said "sweetie" I'll talk to you later at my hotel.
Well, what to do but run to the hotel (Palais Schwarzenberg), calm my nerves and wait for him. An hour later, he walked through the door with his bodyguard and I was quick on my feet, not wanting him to get away.
"Excuse me Mr. Warhol, hi! I'm with the English language radio here and my name is Jill Zobel. Is there any chance I could get a few minutes with you?"
"Ah, 1 minute."
"5 minutes"
"No, 1 minute right now, standing here."
"Certainly one question about the exhibition. As this is a "Reversal" of something you did back in 1962, why did you choose to reverse something that you created back then?"
"Oh, I don't know. I ran out of ideas and I didn't know what else to do so I just took the same images and did them backwards."
The clock was ticking! In fact, Warhol's bodyguard held his watch in the space between me and Andy which needless to say wasn't very helpful.
But, I kept plugging away with my questions.
"You are sometimes so cynical it seems in your writing and your films about the artworld and yet your art is very important to the artworld. Do you care about critics and about each new exhibition that opens-up?"
"Well, yeah, I do. I'm not cynical. I'm an entertainer."
53 seconds had passed and my time was nearly-up.
"When you say something to journalists, like you want to make the worst fil ever, do you really mean it?"
"Well, the worst film ever that's a good worst film ever ... not just the worst film..."
One and a half record-breaking minutes had gone by and Warhol's bodyguard butt in telling me my time was up. Did I care? More importantly, did Andy Warhol care? Actually, not ... he laughed, I asked more questions and at exactly 2 minutes and 13 seconds I said thank you very much, and yet again he called me "Sweetie."
Warhol exhibition at the Albertina in Vienna
My 1981 interview with Andy Warhol was broadcast in today's morning show. You can also hear it as an FM4 Interview podcast.
Österreich | 24.11.2006 | 14:56 
