- Venue
- Afterall: Journal of Art, Context and Enquiry
- Location
Andy Warhol Blow Job is the latest in a series published by Afterall which examines one artwork as seen by a single author. Though the series describes itself as focused on recent contemporary art, this edition by Peter Gidal explores Andy Warhol’s film Blow Job (although I am not sure that you can consider a piece made in 1964 in these terms). Made up of one long essay, this text begins with a ubiquitous quote taken from Andy Warhol’s 1985 book America:
I always thought I'd like my own tombstone to be blank. No epitaph, and no name. Well, actually, I'd like it to say "figment."
This statement litters the library stacks devoted to Warhol, it was even on the wall of the Royal Scottish Academy in large laminate lettering at the recent retrospective. Disappointingly, a quick look at the footnotes lets you know that Gidal simply read it in a Christies Auction catalogue.
This is a problem faced by many when writing about Warhol – as a relentless self publicist his often contradictory statements can be used to support any position, and the “figment” quote is the worst offender. The figurative tombstone is a blank slate on which every theorist can print their own meaning.
