Review of the "Andy Warhol Diaries" mini-series - a documentary project about America's most controversial artist
An artist's diary comes to life in Ryan Murphy's biopic series.
Pat Hackett is a close friend and assistant to Warhol: from 1976 to 1987, the artist dictated his thoughts to her by phone. In 1989, the notes were published in the form of a huge diary: taxi expenses are replaced by deeply personal experiences, and a number of facts about the artist's environment were subsequently questioned by eyewitnesses. The series is based on these same recordings, and for greater immersion, Andy's voice was recreated using a neural network. From hatred of his appearance to a fatal assassination attempt, from the creation of the "Factory" to collaboration with Jean-Michel Basquiat - the life of a genius reveals the era in which he had a chance to create in the best possible way.
From the moment Andy Warhol stepped into New York City and presented thirty-two cans of Campbell's soup to everyone, the heated debate around him has not subsided. Being the personification of the counterculture of the 60s, he nevertheless could not achieve the desired recognition in the art world. In the diaries, one can often see glimpses of loneliness and feelings of alienation from colleagues, and today people, as a rule, either admire the artist or refuse to call his work art at all. Behind all the conversations, the main thing is lost - Andy considered himself a phenomenon and created a myth around his own person. In other words, he is nothing but a reflection of the era, a kind of product of time. It is this motive that the creators of the mini-series are trying to capture: in the center is not so much the artistic power of Warhol as the cultural power of his personalities.
The first episode can mislead the viewer. Following the pages of a diary, where dry facts and value judgments follow each other, does not seem like a good idea for a documentary. But it soon becomes clear that Andy Warhol's recordings are not just a documented life of a pop art artist, but a real mirror of the New York bohemia of the second half of the 20th century. Provocative and vibrant chapters of the 60s give way to dances and drug trips at Studio 54, which opened its doors in 1977. Warhol is a conductor whose youth is rapidly fading away, but he himself, obsessed with the sexual energy of youth, bursts into the 80s along with the new heroes of the city, whose king is Jean-Michel Basquiat - Andy's friend, comrade-in-arms and, in a sense, student.
The miniseries team, led by Ryan Murphy, clearly understands that they do not need a standard biographical summary. They are interested in everything that surrounded Warhol: this is the gay community of that period, and the queen drag culture, and the fear of AIDS, and underground cinema, and the birth of television. Even through the study of Andy's personal life, one can draw up a kind of portrait of young homosexual people who lived under the onslaught of traditions and taboos.
Despite the writers' attempt to squeeze the aura of three decades into six episodes, the series is primarily a tribute to the person whose name is in the title. Andy Warhol is a brand. Now that the Kardashians and TikTok rule the world, such words are not surprising, but in the 60s such a phenomenon was truly innovative, and Warhol anticipated cultural characteristics time after time. And if colors and lovers changed, then the train of the revolutionary spirit trailed behind the artist until his death in 1987.
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