Dallas, TX October, 1985….Pop Artist Andy Warhol releases a book titled “Andy Warhol’s America.’ Andy does a short book tour that includes Dallas, Texas where I am living at the time. The line of people goes around the bookstore and around the block. Hundreds of admirers are waiting for the chance to say hello to an Icon and get an autograph. I am one of the lucky few who do not have to wait in line. I have not started taking photographs at this time yet. I do a lot of drawings and find great artistic fulfillment.
My dear friend writes for the ‘Dallas Morning News’ and he gets to interview Andy before the signing and lets me accompany him. I have done a pencil sketch of Andy and I want to show it to him and get his approval. I am very young at this time as evidenced by the photograph. It means everything to me to get to meet Andy as he is one of my biggest influences. We are both born under the sign of LEO. I have read all the ‘Interview’ magazines and studied all the great photographs of the coolest people. The interviews on this blog are actually based on the Q & A format from those magazines.
Andy is warm, cordial, and exactly the way he has been portrayed by actors in recent movies. He is surrounded by his entourage which includes Bob Cocacello. Everyone is very nice and Andy is extra sweet with me. He asks me to sit down right next to him and he tells me over and over how talented I am. (I learn a few years later that he told that to everyone) He asks everyone in the room to look at the drawing I did of him. He tells me I should keep going as an artist and encourages me to come to New York and visit him. It is all a bit much.
After about thirty minutes my friend has his interview and we leave looking at the hundreds of young people waiting in line. I walk out thinking I will get to know Andy Warhol over time, but less than a year and a half later he dies suddenly in the hospital while recovering from gallbladder surgery. I never saw or spoke with him again. I count my blessings that I was able to have this wonderful opportunity to meet such a legend. His influence on my life and work is undeniable. Thank you Andy wherever you are for being so kind to a young guy.
My dear friend writes for the ‘Dallas Morning News’ and he gets to interview Andy before the signing and lets me accompany him. I have done a pencil sketch of Andy and I want to show it to him and get his approval. I am very young at this time as evidenced by the photograph. It means everything to me to get to meet Andy as he is one of my biggest influences. We are both born under the sign of LEO. I have read all the ‘Interview’ magazines and studied all the great photographs of the coolest people. The interviews on this blog are actually based on the Q & A format from those magazines.
Andy is warm, cordial, and exactly the way he has been portrayed by actors in recent movies. He is surrounded by his entourage which includes Bob Cocacello. Everyone is very nice and Andy is extra sweet with me. He asks me to sit down right next to him and he tells me over and over how talented I am. (I learn a few years later that he told that to everyone) He asks everyone in the room to look at the drawing I did of him. He tells me I should keep going as an artist and encourages me to come to New York and visit him. It is all a bit much.
After about thirty minutes my friend has his interview and we leave looking at the hundreds of young people waiting in line. I walk out thinking I will get to know Andy Warhol over time, but less than a year and a half later he dies suddenly in the hospital while recovering from gallbladder surgery. I never saw or spoke with him again. I count my blessings that I was able to have this wonderful opportunity to meet such a legend. His influence on my life and work is undeniable. Thank you Andy wherever you are for being so kind to a young guy.
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