Artistic Autistic; Andy Warhol. The man, the Artist, the Legend.

When thinking back on the life and artistic works of Andy Warhol the most one might say about him was that he was very peculiar or very talented. Could it be though, that there was an underlying factor that contributed to his oddities and very successful career? Is it possible that the emotionless expressions, monosyllabic interviews, repetitive patterns, preference for isolation and trouble empathizing with others were all caused by a form of autism? More specifically Warhol may have been afflicted by a form of autism known as; Aspergers Syndrome. According to the autism spectrum Aspergers is considered a higher functioning form of autism. “A few people with Aspergers syndrome are very successful and until recently were not diagnosed with anything but were seen as brilliant, eccentric, absent minded, socially inept, and a little awkward physically.” (Kirby, 2006)
Those with Aspergers Syndrome have trouble detecting social cues from others, such as when a person is not interested in conversation. Those diagnosed may appear physically awkward and bizarre in appearance and tend to prefer uniformity and sameness in everyday circumstances. Aspergers is categorized as a social disorder which explains why many diagnosed are comfortable being by themselves, rather than being in a group. In group settings those with Aspergers become anxious and stressed because they must come face- to-face with their biggest obstacle; comprehending social cues, such as humor, sarcasm, and others disinterest in a conversation. Those afflicted have a hard time expressing empathy towards others and may use very big words, or speak minimally. They also avoid any form of personal contact including hugging, shaking hands etc.
Andy, from a young age, was just different from the other kids. He preferred to hang out with the girls, and instead of playing ball out in the street (like his brothers) he could be found drawing butterflies and flowers on his front stoop. At the tender age of five Andy came down with Scarlet Fever and at age eight contracted what is known today as St. Vitus’s Dance. St. Vitus’s is a disorder that affects the central nervous system and is closely linked with Scarlet Fever. Because of St. Vitus’s, Warhol’s complexion became pallid, uneven and blotchy which made him self conscious about his appearance. (Burns , 2006) As a child his next door neighbor remembered that, “ Andy was a very mild, squeamish kid, artistic, sensitive all of that business. He took after his mother. She was soft on everyone. But Andy was afraid of everything, I picked him up and he squealed and hollered a few times but I just took him to school.” Though his second grade teacher Miss Metz had kinder words “remember[ing] him fondly as a shy, delicate boy who liked to draw.” (Warhol Family Album, 2005)
With Aspergers comes the preference for isolation and a paralyzing fear of being with others. On many occasions Warhol could have been found in a corner scanning the room, or home alone working on his art instead of going out. Just as often as he was alone though he was surrounded by a mass of people but mainly remained in the shadows, even if he was the host. Warhol’s television set and tape recorder kept him company and he seemed content with that. “The acquisition of my tape recorder really finished whatever emotional life I might have had, but I was glad to see it go.” (Warhol, 1975) Even as a child Warhol just didn’t understand relationships with others, Andy didn’t become reclusive once he reached adulthood though, even as a child Andy kept to himself not understanding others his age or social situations. “ I wasn’t amazingly popular, but I had some nice friends. I wasn’t very close to anyone , although I guess I wanted to be, because when I would see kids telling one another their problems, I felt left out. No one confided in me- I wasn’t the type they wanted to confide in I guess.” (Warhol, 1975) He didn’t understand social cues but wanted so badly to be apart of a social “group.” A children’s therapist for those afflicted by autism; Barbara Kirby describes her patients as “desir[ing] interaction with others but hav[ing] trouble knowing how to make it work.”(Kirby, 2006) Even as an adult Warhol had found himself in the same situations, “I still wanted to be close with people” (Warhol, 1975), “I still felt left out and hurt” (Warhol, 1975). He once described himself as “the type who'd be happy not going anywhere as long as I was sure I knew exactly what was happening at the places I wasn't going to. I'm the type who'd like to sit home and watch every party that I'm invited to on a monitor in my bedroom.” (Brainy Quote , 2009) Warhol once divulged that he had skipped multiple dates planned for the evening and instead stayed in and dyed his eyebrows.(Brainy Quote , 2009) Warhol was also shunned by popular artists of the time, Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. "Why don't they like me?" Warhol wondered. (Burns , 2006) But later he came to a realization and “decided [he] just wasn’t going to care because those were all things that [he] didn’t want to change, that [he] didn’t think [he] should want to change. De was the only person [he] knew then that could see past those old social distinctions to the art itself.” (Burns , 2006)Though he wasn’t just timid around those he didn’t know but even with good friends he could be found insecure and distressed. Once he was so frightened of going into a club that he stood outside the entrance not able to go in, even though his good friend and business partner was waiting inside for him. (Stewart , 2006) Ivan Karp, who was the first gallery representative to become interested in Andy’s pieces and his close friend afterwards, described Warhol as being the man you could find hiding in his own shadows not wanting to be noticed. (Stewart , 2006) Because he was awkward and apprehensive in a social environment it made more sense to Warhol to enjoy being by himself and on occasion watch others interact with each other.
“All the conversations I had with him were marked with a certain resistance. There was hesitancy in his speech, he would say a few words and pause, internally reflecting on what he was saying. He seemed to be very careful and thoughtful about what he was saying. There would always be these strange little twists, or a humorous way of seeing that somehow things that seemed to be right side up in the world could also be backwards. He seemed to be able to see things on a couple of levels simultaneously, but there’d be a wry quality, seriousness mixed with humour, that struck me as being characteristic of him.” -Betty Ash
When Warhol spoke you could sense that there was something different about him, he would often repeat phrases or answer a question in a single word. The co-author of “Pop-ism” described Warhol as having a, “voice with peculiar locutions.” (Stewart , 2006) He was infamous for his maladroit interviews, responding to lengthy questions with a yes or no, leaving reporters stunned and confused. This was specifically seen in an interview with Paul Taylor where Warhol repeatedly answered “ I don’t know” totaling 21 times within the interview.(Taylor,1987) Warhol had confessed before that he didn’t feel confident enough to use more complex words or sentences and said he felt that listening was an art form. "I know only one language, and sometimes in the middle of a sentence I feel like a foreigner trying to talk it because I have word spasms where the part of some words begin to sound peculiar to me and in the middle of saying the word I'll think "Oh, this can't be right - this sounds very peculiar, I don't know if I should try to finish up this word or try to make it into something else, because if it comes out good it'll be right, but if it comes out bad it'll sound retarded," so in the middle of words that are over one syllable, I sometimes get confused and try to graft other words on top of them." (Stewart , 2006) The fact that Warhol said so little really portrays the claim that he was to a certain extent autistic. Autism or more specifically Aspergers is categorized with individuals who have a hard time adapting to social environments making them appear awkward. Also those with Aspergers are not known for rambling; they can say what an average person would describe in 100 words, in about 10 words. They limit their words and say only what is needed, they don’t have all of the fluff in their conversations.
The world was fascinated by Warhol because they didn’t understand him and found him strange, although Warhol himself was aware of his oddities. He recognized that he was strange but instead of trying to blend into society he decided to embrace his quirkiness which was what really set him apart from the other artists of the time and helped him to become successful. “When I saw myself in those home movies we took on the Cape last weekend I hated myself so much. Every simple thing I do looks strange. I have a strange walk and a strange look; what’s wrong with me?” (Stewart , 2006) Warhol also was quoted confirming the idea that he really did stick out like a sore thumb, after peering at his reflection in a store window. (Stewart , 2006) “I saw the tape I did for the first TV shows…. Susan Blond was a little corny and I was terrible. Reeaallly Reeallly peculiar. I’m just a freak. I can’t change it. I’m too unusual.” - Warhol (Stewart , 2006) In the book, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, Andy spoke about never wanting to have kids because he didn’t think anyone deserved to have any of the problems he had had to deal with on a daily basis. He spoke a lot in the book about feeling like he was missing some chemicals, about feeling like an outsider looking in.(Warhol, 1975) Although at the time Andy appeared to be the “it” guy and the social butterfly of the times he preferred to sit alone. He said once that he thought he had some sort of social disease, recognizing he didn’t know how to interact with others , he was painfully aware (Brainy Quote , 2009). On the Andy Warhol documentary Charles described Andy as, “[being] a very beautiful person [inside] that’s what I really like about him, but he had an enormous inferiority complex, he told me he was from another planet, he said he didn’t know how he got here. Andy wanted so much to be beautiful, but he wore that terrible wig which didn’t fit and only looked awful.” (Burns , 2006) After being shot by Valerie Solanas, Andy described how before he was shot he always felt that he was more “half-there than all-there”. He said he felt as if his whole life leading to that disaster he had just been watching television. He said that from that point on he knew he was watching television.(Brainy Quote , 2009) “People sometimes say that the way things happen in the movies is unreal, but actually it's the way things happen to you in life that's unreal. The movies make emotions look so strong and real, whereas when things really do happen to you, it's like watching television -- you don't feel anything.” (Warhol, 1975)
Andy was known for being a mass hoarder, like many with Aspergers or certain types of autism. Those with Aspergers are known for displaying characteristics that are very similar to obsessive compulsive disorder, one of which is hoarding. When he had cash in his pocket it would seem to burn a hole right through. “Cash. I just am not happy when I don’t have it. The minute I have it I have to spend it. And I just buy STUPID THINGS.” (Warhol, 1975) Although coming to the realization that what he was buying was unnecessary, Andy could not help it. He also said that his best times in life were when he didn’t have a single problem that he couldn’t fix with money. He even had nervous breakdowns and panic attacks because of his unhealthy habit, “then, after my third nervous breakdown and I still didn’t have any extra candy, my career started to pick up, and I started to get more and more candy, and now I have a roomful of candy all in shopping bags.”(Warhol, 1975) The rush he felt when he bought things seemed addictive, he wouldn’t even open half of what he had bought he just needed to have them. It was said that once Andy had obtained enough money from his art work he would find a single item that he adored and buy it in mass quantities. He loved to have collections of things, it was said that after his death executors came upon rooms filled with bags and bags of things that have never even been opened. (Burns, 2006)Although he did hoard he did it in an organized way, for instance he had specific spots for every paper he ever received; mail, magazines, notes, bills everything, he would put them each in specific boxes and number them accordingly. There were hundreds of these boxes documented. “He collected post cards from his lovers, shoe drawings and more bizarrely, dental models- 140 sets of teeth, including a giant set of uppers and lowers in plaster.” Heather Byrne (Seidel, 2008). He was even obsessive about his underwear, he partial to the green ones, and he wouldn’t just buy a few pairs in different colors or even just a plain pack of white underwear, Warhol had to have his green underwear that was at a specific store, in a specific brand. Warhol was convinced that the green underpants felt different than any of the other color varieties.
Within his works Warhol would throw pop culture and media in your face although many times he would focus his works on sore subjects or things that were overly publicized. Warhol seemed to focus on stars once they had hit rock bottom. When the rest of Hollywood was dumping these stars to find new ones Andy was in the process of silk screening repetitive images of the once beautiful stars, that had in present light become decrepit, pointing out that even the most famous celebrity can not retain their glow and luster forever. And perhaps he was emphasizing the idea that we are all people and at some point or another we are equal with one another. It seems though that Warhol did not understand others pain, for instance he silk-screened a series of images known as the “Disaster Series”. These were touchy subjects and they were real people who had died and Warhol was just using these images for himself. Andy then took on silk-screened images of car accidents and people dying. He said that whenever he would turn on the television even on a holiday they only commented on death, almost mocking, yet sympathizing with the media and the deaths.(Burns , 2006) “Warhol’s autistic stare was the same for heroes and heroines as for death and disaster.” (Taylor,1987) Showing how so many deaths go unnoticed by most of the world and that a person dies and no one seems to notice a difference. He also used an image of tuna fish out of a magazine that many had died from because it contained botulism known as the “Tunafish Disaster.” (Stewart , 2006) A misunderstanding of emotion is also a key component in the diagnosis of Aspergers Syndrome.
Many with Aspergers are not able to empathize with peers and may come across as being insensitive. For instance, it was thought that Warhol used those in the factory to get ahead. The biggest example of his insensitivity was when he befriended Edie Sedgwick, a little rich girl who wanted nothing more than to be a celebrity. Warhol and she made headlines together for movies and for new things happening at the factory. Edie began to spiral out of control though when she began to get into more hardcore drugs and eventually killed herself. (Burns , 2006)“Warhol used and abused the people who fluttered around him, then placidly watched them self destruct, as if they were nothing but shadows on a screen.”(Farr, 2006) Andy didn’t attend Sedgwick’s funeral making him appear selfish and insensitive. Looking back, it seems as if Warhol just couldn’t understand the emotionality of the situation and wasn’t able to comprehend the magnitude of the loss. Tyrangiel said that "When you were with him, you'd feel as if he didn't have the slightest interest in knowing you. All he wanted to know was what you thought of him— or that you thought of him." (Tyrangiel, 2006) This portrays a man who doesn’t understand when someone is upset, uninterested, or just angry. As stated in an article focusing upon, those with Aspergers are “oblivious to the listeners feelings and reactions”( Raising Special Kids,2006) Many who have been diagnosed are very literal in speech and have difficulty speaking in context especially in a social environment. Warhol noted once, “I used to think that everything was just being funny but now I don’t know. I mean how can you tell?”(Brainy Quote , 2009) Those with Aspergers have trouble differentiating between sarcasm and serious tones of voices and are not sure how to react. Two days after Warhol had been shot in the chest by Valerie Solanas, President Kennedy was shot and killed . Andy later confessed “I didn't care when President Kennedy was shot.”(Jones,2002) Although you might suspect one whom had been shot a mere two days before would empathize with the family and understand the turmoil it had caused ,Andy didn’t. Following Kennedy’s funeral Warhol obtained pictures of Jackie O at the funeral and silk screened them . (Burns , 2006)
“I wouldn’t have stopped Monroe from killing herself, I think that everyone should do whatever they want to do and if that made her happier than that is what she should have done.” (Bockris, 2003)
You would think that someone who had Aspergers would not be thought of as weird until you heard them speak, but Andy was a different case. He was physically odd in appearance as well as in spoken word. He was described as being “pail skinned and frail looking” and he had such anxiety over his abnormal appearance that it actually ended up hurting his relationships and social life. (Burns , 2006) He had an interview with the art director of Glamour magazine Tina Frederick’s whom later said “I greeted a boy with a big beige blotch on his cheek possibly going up to the forehead. He was all one color. Weird. There seemed something other earthly or offbeat, different for sure, elfish from another world. He had a breathy way of talking his voice was slight unemphatic whispery covered over with a smile.” (Burns , 2006) It was not only others who were baffled by his appearance, but Andy was also. He wanted so badly to look like an average man, he wanted to be “beautiful.” Andy was so self conscious though of his blemished, blotchy skin and large Polish nose that he actually went to get procedures done in order to correct both. He came out disappointed though because neither procedure offered the benefits he was hoping for. (Burns , 2006) Maybe because of his awkward outer appearance there seemed to grow an unparallel fascination with beauty and with a pretty face. Warhol desperately searched for beauty in himself and when he couldn’t find it decided to wear sunglasses and wear gray and silver wigs to mask his rapidly thinning hair and keep people guessing his age. “The longing for beauty is especially strong in me. I require also in my art aesthetics and beauty. And I express these in my own way.” (Bodenstein,2001)
Anything Andy did seemed to have a repetitive pattern, it was entrancing but also a bit peculiar. His art was constructed in grid patterns but no two images he created were ever exactly the same. Famous pieces of Andy’s that portrayed his preference for grid patterns were the Campbell’s Soup can paintings, the Brillo pads, the Coca Cola bottle pictures etc. “Andy who had been drawn to repetition of images when he was a child and counted the sheets hanging out to dry on his way to school, saw it’s real meaning (that every sheet is different) as one of the essential lessons of looking.”(Bockris, 2003) “He had a distinctive line and liked to compose with repeating patterns and an instinct for what would appeal to the broadest number of people.”(Farr, 2006) Ivan Karp
remembered that when he visited Warhol’s studio “he was playing the same pop record ninety times” Andy had programmed it that way. (Stewart , 2006) His repetitive behavior was not just seen in his works but also in interviews, Warhol was infamous for repeating the same phrases such as “gee” “great” etc.(Thorpe , 1999) In an interview with Paul Taylor Warhol repeated the phrase “ I don’t know” a total of twenty one times.(Taylor,1987)In other interviews Andy would often repeat questions asked of him and chuckle when the reporter had nothing to say. The repetitive nature and echoing of others words are often seen in patients with Aspergers. ( Raising Special Kids,2006)
“Isn't life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?” (Brainy Quote , 2009)
Being hyper- sensitive to light, sound, touch, texture, taste, smell, pain, temperature and other stimulants is quite commonly seen in those with Aspergers. ( Raising Special Kids,2006) During his childhood Andy and his family attended mass regularly in his hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After each service the congregation was expected to get up to shake hands with one another and say, “peace be with you.” This was the worst part of the service for Andy though and was so anxious about the physical contact that he would pretend to be deep in prayer or would go to the bathroom to avoid shaking others hands. After his bout with St. Vitus’s his older brother remembered that Andy was, “ hyper-sensitive to touch and remained subject to spasms and shaking, mood-swings and anxiety. ” (Farr, 2006) Viva a friend from the days of the Factory remembered that; “After Andy was shot he became really terrified of women, he was very much changed towards me, much cooler. He was sexually afraid of women before, I mean you couldn’t touch him, he would cringe. That could have been an act but afterwards he seemed to be deeply afraid.” (Bockris, 2003)
Although those with Aspergers have emotionally challenging lives, and must work harder in order to find their place in society, it has also been said that they are, “capable of exceptional achievement and original thought as adults.” Many critics seem to think that the idea of Andy having any form of autism strips away the creative genius he is known for. Although it appears that Aspergers only helped to set Andy apart from many of the mainstream pop artists of the time. Although known today as a “syndrome,” Aspergers may just have been the fighting force behind Andy, that which gave everyone around him a greater appreciation of art and of those who were brilliant and even eccentric enough to create it.
“Curiously enough, despite the sort of a faze like, ‘I never had an idea I’m just Andy Warhol,’ that sort of numbed out look and claim, I would say that Andy was one of the very impressive artists of ideas.” (Burns , 2006)