INTERVIEW MAGAZINE

Interview, which will be 40 years old next year, was way ahead of its time in being a magazine devoted to the cult of celebrity, defining the emerging stars of film, fashion, music and literature. It was also the pioneer of the Q&A style of interview, which has become a staple of publishing in the past four decades. And now Glenn O’Brien, who ran the magazine for Warhol in its early years after joining fresh from film school, is back in the editor’s chair.O’Brien’s latest edition of Interview includes pieces with Damien Hirst, Richard Prince, Jeff Koons and Cindy Sherman, some of the most influential artists alive, and the editor hopes it becomes a collector’s item for years to come. “I feel like people are going to keep it on the bookshelf for 10 or 20 years because it’s comprehensive and authoritative,” he says. “It’s not something you throw out it’s a periodical that has the qualities of a book.”O’Brien came to Interview back in 1970, eight issues after it started. Along with his friend and fellow film student at Columbia University Bob Colcello, he was summoned by Warhol to bring some sense to an editorial operation previously assigned to his acolytes in the wild surroundings of the artist’s studios ‘The Factory’.

The Independant
Nov 23 2008