David Bowie as Andy Warhol in the film 'Basquiat'.
Andy Warhol, Silver Screen, Can't tell them apart at all...
The third and final part of 'Andy Warhol: The Complete Picture' is screened tonight at 8:00pm on Channel 4 here in the UK. This episode, 'The Sixteenth Minute', is as fascinating as the two previous episodes of this compulsive look back at the life and work of one of the most influential artists of the 20th-century.
'The Sixteenth Minute' recalls how, in his last years, Warhol stepped up production in every field, confounding critics who had written him off as a spent force. The programme looks at; 'Interview' magazine, the political commentary of the Mao and Hammer and Scythe paintings, the incredible series of portraitures, the "oxidation paintings" (in fact, these abstracts were created by pissing on a reactive surface, for which Andy received some help from male colleagues, but, after a trial run no women contributed, as they couldn't get the brushstroke effect!), the failure of the "Andy Robot", the sale of Andy's cookie jar collection for a quarter of a million dollars...and much more.
This final programme also examines the work of the "Warhol Babies" such as Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Warhol's collaborations with the latter and Keith Harring. It takes a look also at the ground-breaking TV show, 'Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes' and the posthumous establishment of two museums which have helped the controversial Warhol brand survive and for which a battle for possession rages to this day.
"Andy Warhol likes my shoes." David Bowie at Warhol's Factory.
Having viewed a rough-cut of tonight's show, I can tell you that there is sadly no mention of David, neither his brief meeting with Warhol at The Factory, or his performance as Warhol in 'Basquiat'. But, the film is being shown today as part of the Warhol film season in the Starr Auditorium at the Tate Modern, where the superb Warhol retrospective, which is now open, runs until April 1st.
The 'Pop Art - Underground Sounds from the Warhol Era' CD that we mentioned a couple of weeks back, which contains David Bowie's 1971 classic, 'Andy Warhol', is released tomorrow.