GOOD JOKE!

In May 1985, Andy Warhol was interviewed by the modernist art historian Benjamin H.D. Buchloh. Throughout the interview, Buchloh tries to situate Warhol’s work in relation to that of earlier avant-garde artists, to Duchamp, Man Ray, Matisse, Yves Klein, and Francis Picabia, among several others. Warhol eludes every such attempt on Buchloh’s part to create a modernist pedigree for his art. “No, well, I don’t know” Warhol would say or “No, well, I didn’t think that way.” When asked specifically about the artistic impact of meeting Duchamp in the 1960s, Warhol responds “No, I didn’t know him that well.” And, in a moment of terrifically unambiguous rejection, Warhol answers a question about the influence of Picabia on his drawings of the 1950s by telling Buchloh that “I didn’t even know who that person was” at the time. (1)

-Richard Meyer