Life Lessons From the One and Only Andy Warhol

 

Welcome to Life Lessons. This week, we’re marking what would have been the 93rd birthday of our founder Andy Warhol with a journey into the archives. In our special April 1996 issue (aptly titled Andy Mania!), a few icons paid homage to our “wigged-out” patron saint in words and images. Among them are the likes of Richard Pandiscio, Candy Darling, Mary Harron, and our legendary former Editor-in-Chief Ingrid Sischy—whose most memorable reflections are found below. So sit down and grab a pen—you just might learn a thing or two.

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“Despite Warhol’s apparent infatuation with power and with fame, his attraction was never something that treated power and fame as though it were above society.”

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“I’ve always thought that in one way or another Warhol was always in a  kind of drag.”

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“Warhol was always an observer, which means he never lost sight of what an artist is—the one who can see what others might miss. He was probably such a consummate observer because he was a consummate outsider.”

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“Warhol was an artist who changed American culture. It will never look the same now that we have seen it through his eyes.”

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“He was like a chameleon who could move from circumstance to circumstance and always fit in, but still be himself.”

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“Even in his lifetime, to many people Warhol was the greatest American artist. He never acted that way though.”

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“To be a certain kind of great artist you have to be a sharp editor, you have to be able to recognize the stuff that gets to the heart of things.”

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“The value of something isn’t what would turn him on as a collector. His obsession for instance with inexpensive cookie bars is now legendary.”

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“Warhol’s capacity for innocence is also why he could have an excitement for new things and new people.”

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“Unlike many people who make it big, he didn’t look down his nose at the next generations to come along. In fact, he wanted to be among the new artists who interested him, and who maybe made him feel competitive.”

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“He was ageless, boundaryless, and that’s why what he did will probably be of interest forever, even though so much of it appears to be so simple.”

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