I'll Be Your Mirror: The Selected Andy Warhol Interviews (Taschenbuch)

"I always feel that my words are coming from behind me, not from me"—this expertly chosen and edited first collection of interviews with inarguably the most influential artist of his and our time shows that for Warhol (1928–1987) the interview was an art form like any other. Again and again, with a variety of interlocutors ranging from the innocent to the fake (as when poet Gerard Malanga asks deliberately loaded questions) to the actively hostile, Warhol expertly controls the situation. But Warhol's judolike feints, in which questioners, tipped over by the weight of their preconceptions, are left clutching at thin air, are less about concealing anything than they are about adding intrigue and tension—entertainment value, if you will—to an inherently absurd and artificial situation. Goldsmith, a conceptual artist, poet and radio host, contributes vividly written general and individual introductions that set up each piece perfectly. In gathering this book, he has performed a service not only for Warhol scholars but for anyone interested in the bewildering transformations of American culture, where "everyone and everything is interesting."
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Warhol was fascinated by every aspect of celebrityhood, including the ubiquitous celebrity interview. For Warhol, interviews were performances, sly assaults on pretension and verisimilitude. So intrigued was he with the curious tension between the potential for revelation in interviews versus the predictable format, he started the magazine Interview. And, a celebrity himself, he often granted interviews and proved to be a challenging subject. Writer and radio host Goldsmith now presents the first collection of Warhol interviews, some never before published and all hilarious, arch, and indicative of Warhol's peculiarly prescient and pervasive genius. Over the course of three decades, Warhol toyed with his interlocutors, vamping and evading, and concealing shrewd social and aesthetic insights within seemingly insipid remarks. Warhol was, indeed, a mirror, a spinning disco ball reflecting the superficiality and pathos of human existence, and Goldsmith's meticulous and arresting collection, brilliantly introduced by Reva Wolf, is a key addition to the Warhol canon. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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 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.