Love
I Love You by Andy Warhol
"People should fall in love with their eyes closed.
Just close your eyes. Don't look and it's magic."-Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol had many different outlooks on the philosophy of love. In his book, “The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again),” Andy broke down the meaning of love into puberty, prime, and senility. In the puberty section of love, Andy states, “During the 60s, I think, people forgot what emotions were supposed to be. And I don’t think they’ve ever remembered. I think that once you see emotions from a certain angle you can never think of them as real again. That’s what more or less has happened to me” (27). Andy believes that objects like televisions separate a human being from their emotions, which is what he believes happen to him. He thinks that when a person watches television it detaches them from the world around them allowing them to forget about their past. Andy explains that he truly does not believe if he will ever be capable of loving after the 60s because that is when he stopped caring.
As stated in the biography, Andy had many nervous break downs, actually one when he was he eight, nine, and ten. Each breakdown was separated by a year. In fact, he had many nervous breakdowns through his life, which he believes was from people not entrusting in him enough to share their secrets with him. It many have seemed as if Andy had many friends throughout his lifetime, but deep down inside he felt very lonely. Therefore, when he got his television it allowed him to stop caring about the past and made him feel like the people on the television were sharing their secrets with him. This seemed to have caused Andy’s lack of love for another person. Andy states, “… I became what you might call fascinated by certain people. One person in the 60s fascinated me more than anybody I had ever known. And the fascination I experienced was probably very close to a certain kind of love” (27).
Andy Warhol had many different outlooks on the philosophy of love. In his book, “The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again),” Andy broke down the meaning of love into puberty, prime, and senility. In the puberty section of love, Andy states, “During the 60s, I think, people forgot what emotions were supposed to be. And I don’t think they’ve ever remembered. I think that once you see emotions from a certain angle you can never think of them as real again. That’s what more or less has happened to me” (27). Andy believes that objects like televisions separate a human being from their emotions, which is what he believes happen to him. He thinks that when a person watches television it detaches them from the world around them allowing them to forget about their past. Andy explains that he truly does not believe if he will ever be capable of loving after the 60s because that is when he stopped caring.
As stated in the biography, Andy had many nervous break downs, actually one when he was he eight, nine, and ten. Each breakdown was separated by a year. In fact, he had many nervous breakdowns through his life, which he believes was from people not entrusting in him enough to share their secrets with him. It many have seemed as if Andy had many friends throughout his lifetime, but deep down inside he felt very lonely. Therefore, when he got his television it allowed him to stop caring about the past and made him feel like the people on the television were sharing their secrets with him. This seemed to have caused Andy’s lack of love for another person. Andy states, “… I became what you might call fascinated by certain people. One person in the 60s fascinated me more than anybody I had ever known. And the fascination I experienced was probably very close to a certain kind of love” (27).
Heart by Andy Warhol
In the prime section, Andy addresses who this wonder woman is. He calls her by the name of Taxi, whether that is her real or not, no one knows. Andy describes Taxi as a marvelous woman with many flaws though. Andy describes her by saying, “She had a poignantly vacant, vulnerable quality that made her a reflection of everybody’s private fantasies” (33). Andy ‘loved’ her because she was a breath of fresh air. She was a human version of his art work. Andy looked at her with an expression of fascination yet he was horrified at the same time. Later though, Taxi leaves with a singer-musician, and years
later he finds out that she died. Andy was upset that she left, but he knew
deep down that it was better for him if she did. This was Andy’s one true love,
yet to him it was just the woman who fascinated him the most. In senility, Andy
states, "The biggest price you pay for love is that you have to have
somebody around, you can't be on your own, which is always so much better. The
biggest disadvantage, of course, is no room in bed" (46).
Andy knew no other life besides one of alienation, so he chooses to find humor in what he believes love is. He sees no reason to lose who he is as a person to have love. Andy's mother always made him feel that he needed to get married even if he never loved, but Andy never wanted to get married because he never wanted to have children. It wasn't that Andy didn't like children; it was that he never wanted to have children who had the same problems that he did. Andy believes, "The symptom of love is when some of the chemicals inside you go bad. So there must be something in love because your chemicals do tell you something" (47). At this time, Andy does not believe people really know what 'love' is anymore, but he feels that love should be an unexpressed emotion. He thinks that people force love upon one another because they think they know what love is. As stated earlier, Andy says, "People should fall in love with their eyes closed. Just close your eyes. Don't look" (50). Andy does not judge people on what they look like, but he believes true love should come from what's with in a person because a person cannot spend the rest of their lives with a person who just has looks. Andy lived a life of isolation, yet there is one thing that he truly loved, his art.
Andy knew no other life besides one of alienation, so he chooses to find humor in what he believes love is. He sees no reason to lose who he is as a person to have love. Andy's mother always made him feel that he needed to get married even if he never loved, but Andy never wanted to get married because he never wanted to have children. It wasn't that Andy didn't like children; it was that he never wanted to have children who had the same problems that he did. Andy believes, "The symptom of love is when some of the chemicals inside you go bad. So there must be something in love because your chemicals do tell you something" (47). At this time, Andy does not believe people really know what 'love' is anymore, but he feels that love should be an unexpressed emotion. He thinks that people force love upon one another because they think they know what love is. As stated earlier, Andy says, "People should fall in love with their eyes closed. Just close your eyes. Don't look" (50). Andy does not judge people on what they look like, but he believes true love should come from what's with in a person because a person cannot spend the rest of their lives with a person who just has looks. Andy lived a life of isolation, yet there is one thing that he truly loved, his art.
