I'll Be Your Mirror: The Collected Andy Warhol Interviews
Kenneth Goldsmith (Editor), Reva Wolf (Introduction), Wayne KostenbaumBooks.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
The Question-and-Answer interview was one of Andy Warhol's favorite communication vehicles, so much so that he named his own magazine after the form. Yet, never before has anyone published a collection of interviews that Warhol himself gave. I'll Be Your Mirror contains more then thirty conversations revealing this unique and important artist. Each piece presents a different facet of the Sphinx-like Warhol's ever-evolving personality. Writer Kenneth Goldsmith provides context and provenance for each selection. Beginning in 1962 with a notorious interview in which Warhol literally begs the interviewer to put words into his mouth, the book covers Warhol's most important artistic period during the '60s. As Warhol shifts to filmmaking in the '70s, this collection explores his emergence as socialite, scene-maker, and trendsetter; his influential Interview magazine; and the Studio 54 scene. In the 80s, his support of young artists like Jean-Michel Basquait, his perspective on art history and the growing relationship to technology in his work are shown. Finally, his return to religious imagery and spirituality are available in an interview conducted just months before his death. Including photographs and previous unpublished interviews, this collage of Warhol showcases the artist's ability to manipulate, captivate, and enrich American culture.Synopsis
The Question-and-Answer interview was one of Andy Warhol’s favorite communication vehicles, so much so that he named his own magazine after the form. Yet, never before has anyone published a collection of interviews that Warhol himself gave. I’ll Be Your Mirror contains more then thirty conversations revealing this unique and important artist. Each piece presents a different facet of the Sphinx-like Warhol’s ever-evolving personality. Writer Kenneth Goldsmith provides context and provenance for each selection. Beginning in 1962 with a notorious interview in which Warhol literally begs the interviewer to put words into his mouth, the book covers Warhol’s most important artistic period during the ’60s. As Warhol shifts to filmmaking in the ’70s, this collection explores his emergence as socialite, scene-maker, and trendsetter; his influential Interview magazine; and the Studio 54 scene. In the 80s, his support of young artists like Jean-Michel Basquait, his perspective on art history and the growing relationship to technology in his work are shown. Finally, his return to religious imagery and spirituality are available in an interview conducted just months before his death. Including photographs and previous unpublished interviews, this collage of Warhol showcases the artist’s ability to manipulate, captivate, and enrich American culture.
The New York Times - Barry Gewen
In the end, what comes through in I'll Be Your Mirror is a special kind of resoluteness, Warhol's remarkable and admirable poise. Though he was a churchgoing Roman Catholic, he lived without God, without ideals or aspirations. Abstractions meant nothing to him. Existence was the here and now. Warhol's world was a landscape out of Samuel Beckett, cold and desolate.
Editorials
Barry Gewen
In the end, what comes through in I'll Be Your Mirror is a special kind of resoluteness, Warhol's remarkable and admirable poise. Though he was a churchgoing Roman Catholic, he lived without God, without ideals or aspirations. Abstractions meant nothing to him. Existence was the here and now. Warhol's world was a landscape out of Samuel Beckett, cold and desolate.— The New York Times