Bob Colacello on the “Secular Saints” of Andy Warhol’s Portraits

During Bob Colacello‘s formidable reign as editor of Interview Magazine from 1970 to 1983, he was often tasked with “popping the question.” In Warhol parlance, this meant asking pop stars, artists, socialites, heads of state, and princesses if they wanted to be immortalized in portrait form by Andy Warhol himself. “I always said I never had to social climb,” remarks Colacello, who appeared on a panel last week at Cipriani South Street with Michael Dayton Hermann of The Andy Warhol Foundation and Donna De Salvo, formerly the Chief Curator at The Whitney Museum of Art. “I landed on Mount Olympus in Andy’s helicopter.” Their conversation, which appears below, edited for brevity and clarity, was facilitated by Independent 20th Century and Vito Schnabel Gallery, where 10 such portraits, featuring Giorgio Armani, Judy Garland and Liza Minelli, were on view. Below, Colacello, Hermann, and De Salvo discuss Warhol’s enduring influence, a day in the life at “the factory,” who Andy would want to paint today, and what it’s like to have Diana Ross cut you a check for a couple-hundred thousands dollars.