1 00:00:00,078 --> 00:00:03,023 I noticed that you wrote about Andy Warhol, 2 00:00:03,023 --> 00:00:07,863 saying you felt little for the can and didn't like the soup. 3 00:00:07,863 --> 00:00:09,423 (Laughter) 4 00:00:09,423 --> 00:00:15,942 That you preferred an artist not mirroring the world, but transforming it. 5 00:00:15,942 --> 00:00:21,903 Yes. Well, when I was young, I truthfully didn't have an affection for Andy Warhol. 6 00:00:21,903 --> 00:00:28,715 As a human being I thought that he was not a very generous or kind person, 7 00:00:28,715 --> 00:00:32,962 his work really didn't speak to me. 8 00:00:32,962 --> 00:00:38,380 Robert loved Andy Warhol though, and Robert believed he was a genius, 9 00:00:38,380 --> 00:00:43,340 and so I didn't dismiss him because I knew Robert knew things, 10 00:00:43,340 --> 00:00:46,425 you know I trusted in Robert's instinct. 11 00:00:46,425 --> 00:00:52,228 And, when I was young, his work didn't speak to me. 12 00:00:52,228 --> 00:01:00,018 At this time of my life, I've really gotten to appreciate what a genius he was. 13 00:01:00,018 --> 00:01:07,031 And, I find, if I'm in a museum, and looking at contemporary art, 14 00:01:07,031 --> 00:01:12,864 I'm not so drawn to contemporary art, and I suddenly see something across the room, 15 00:01:12,864 --> 00:01:16,262 and I think "That's strong", and I go over and it's Andy's. 16 00:01:16,262 --> 00:01:22,180 And the last works he did, or some of the last works he did before he died, 17 00:01:22,180 --> 00:01:31,349 his last supper, body of work, I thought was genius, was quite moving. 18 00:01:31,349 --> 00:01:39,616 But what I think is important in the quotation about an artist, either mirroring or transforming, 19 00:01:39,616 --> 00:01:46,940 I think what you do is transforming, instead of mirroring what you see, 20 00:01:46,940 --> 00:01:49,941 it's two different conceptions of how to be an artist. 21 00:01:49,941 --> 00:01:56,513 Well, I feel more drawn to the transformative in art itself. 22 00:01:56,513 --> 00:02:06,066 I'm not so drawn to non-fiction, but you know I also appreciate more and more 23 00:02:06,066 --> 00:02:10,183 someone that has the ability to mirror our times. 24 00:02:10,183 --> 00:02:17,538 I think that it's important that people do that, it's just I'm not really that style of person. 25 00:02:17,538 --> 00:02:23,455 I learned this lesson when 9/11 happened. 26 00:02:23,455 --> 00:02:29,739 Where I live in New-York City, I could see the towers from my stoop, 27 00:02:29,739 --> 00:02:37,354 and I watched them come down, and I didn't live far from there 28 00:02:37,354 --> 00:02:42,553 so I went and looked at the remains of one of the towers, the South Tower. 29 00:02:42,553 --> 00:02:45,701 And it was an extraordinary... 30 00:02:45,701 --> 00:02:49,965 it was like a piece of sculpture, it looked like the Tower of Babel. 31 00:02:49,965 --> 00:02:55,467 And I started thinking a lot about Andy, then. 32 00:02:55,467 --> 00:03:02,181 I really missed Andy as an artist then, because he would have known what to do 33 00:03:02,181 --> 00:03:10,350 as an artist, not to transform, but to document this extraordinary thing that happened. 34 00:03:10,350 --> 00:03:14,418 So, even though I'm not that style of artist, 35 00:03:14,418 --> 00:03:19,151 I recognized the importance of that type of artist. 36 00:03:19,151 --> 00:03:23,145 But when I was young, I was really judgmental. 37 00:03:23,145 --> 00:03:25,258 (Laughter) 38 00:03:25,258 --> 00:03:27,046 (Applause)