ANDY WARHOL DIED TODAY

ANDY WARHOL (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987)

 was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became a renowned and sometimes controversial artist. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement. He worked in a range of mediums, including painting, sculpture, film, and music.

 He founded Interview Magazineand was the author of numerous books, including The Philosophy of Andy Warhol and Popism: The Warhol Sixties. Andy Warhol is also notable as a gay man who lived openly as such before the gay liberation movement.

 His studio (The Factory) was a famous gathering place that brought together distinguished intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights, Bohemian street people, Hollywood celebrities, and wealthy patrons.

Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, and feature and documentary films. He coined the widely used expression "15 minutes of fame". In his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, The Andy Warhol Museum celebrates his life and work.

on APRIL 1, 1987: ANDY WARHOL HAS A MASS ON APRIL FOOLS DAY.

Warhol's memorial mass was held at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

BILLY NAME attended the all-Catholic memorial service, "with all the associated hoi poloi, and magazine Vanity Fair covered the event. In their Warhol death article, they referred to Billy by writing and who should show up but Billy Name, the speed freak of the sixties. 

Billy was non plussed." 

HOLLY WOODLAWN attended the service but asked the cab to drop her off a few blocks away from the church to avoid the media. She was invited into the VIP section by FRED HUGHES but declined in order to avoid walking down the long aisle with people straining their necks to see who was coming in.

YOKO ONO read the eulogy even though, according to Holly, “Andy never liked her in the first place.” Holly skipped the luncheon afterwards preferring not to see the relics of her past, and instead escaped out of a side exit and went straight to Saks Fifth Avenue across the street where she bought “enough makeup to paint the Statue of Liberty.”

At the post service luncheon, with VELVET UNDERGROUND recordings playing in the background, BILLY NAME drew LOU REED and JOHN CALE into conversation with each other, easing the tension that existed between them since their musical break up.  They eventually collaborated on Songs for Drella, a tribute to Andy Warhol, which was released in April 1990 and eventually led to the Velvets getting back together.