Read I'll Be Your Mirror: The Selected Andy Warhol Interviews for Free Online Page A

Seymour felt that “Warhol and Mead weren’t prepared to take me seriously. They were impressed that I was good-looking, smart and plugged into the ‘scene” (probably in that order). Andy and Taylor were all about that.”
    As they spoke at length, the dynamic shifted. “Taylor was the one who melted first. You could see him changing and you could see him thinking, ‘Oh, she’s interesting,’ “ Seymour remembers. “Andy was a much more guarded person; you couldn’t tell very much about his reaction to things. But as the interview progressed, he warmed up and we began playing with each other. It became a friendly exchange and, by the end, we were having fun with each other. And when it was over, they both felt awful about my little daughter and I could see they felt guilty, especially since she’d behaved beautifully throughout the interview. She was too sick to do much of anything else, and their belated solicitousness hardly registered with her, but they made a real effort to make up for a bad beginning.”
    –KG
    RUTH HIRSCHMAN: Where are you from, Andy?
    ANDY WARHOL: Youngstown, Ohio.
    R.H.: Ohio. Were you brought up there?
    A.W.: Yes.
    R.H.: Most of your life spent in Ohio?
    A.W.: No.
    R.H.: Where was it?
    A.W.: Philadelphia.
    R.H.: Were you painting at that time?
    A.W.: Yes.
    R.H.: How long have you been painting?
    A.W.: I was ah . . . ah . . . oh, I just copied all the Maybelline ads.
    R.H.: Way back then.
    A.W.: Yes.
    R.H.: Right.
    A.W.: And they were of movie stars . . . Hedy Lamarr and Joan Crawford.
    R.H.: When you were doing these things was there any movement known as Pop Art?
    A.W.: Just in the grade school.
    R.H.: Kind of underground.
    A.W.: Underground Pop Art.
    R.H.: Right. When did you hit the Pop Art scene?
    A.W.: The skids, so to speak. Uh–two years ago.
    R.H.: Was it in New York?
    A.W.: Yes.
    R.H.: One of the things that I’ve heard most discussion about, especially in relation to your work, is the question where do you get your themes from? The Campbell’s soup show showed here, and now, of course, the Elvis Presley show; and watching people move around the Ferus Gallery, especially art instructors from colleges who are trying to explain it to their students, and they usually talk in terms of social significance–this is the–this is an aspect of our culture that he’s painting–would you go along with that? Do you consciously think of like “What is the symbol of our culture?” when you did the Campbell soup show?
    A.W.: Uh, no.
    R.H.: You don’t?
    A.W.: No.
    R.H.: Are they simply objects that move you?
    A.W.: Yes.
    R.H.: And they’re chosen at random.
    A.W.: Yes.
    R.H.: Do you think they are particularly American?
    A.W.: Uh, what they are, they’re the only things I know.
    R.H.: When I saw your show, I don’t know whether you were aware of it, I don’t know whether you were in town–the Campbell soup show–there was a gallery two doors down, and they had six Campbell’s soup cans in the window with a little sign and it said “Don’t be fooled, buy the real thing here, two for 33.
    A.W.: Oh, I would have bought those.
    TAYLOR MEAD: Yes, in fact, he was going into sculpture and we were going to go into a supermarket and put fixative on one of the displays in the supermarket and transport it to a museum or something.
    R.H.: One of the things I find kind of interesting is that almost all Pop painters seem to come from the Midwest. Or am I wrong about that?
    A.W.: Well, no. I think California–doesn’t California have a lot?
    R.H.: California has some, but I know Oldenburg’s from Chicago, I think Lichtenstein is from the Midwest, too.
    A.W.: And Taylor Mead is, too.
    T.M.: I’m not a Pop Artist, I’m a romantic.
    R.H.: Is there a difference?
    T.M.: I’m an old silent movie star.
    R.H.: Is there a difference?
    A.W.: No.
    T.M.: Yes. I’m pure and simple and Andy’s complex and satirical.
    R.H.: Are you satirical, Andy?
    A.W.: No, I’m simple.
    R.H.: You’re simple.