A lot of women artists of that period have a tremendous sense of humor. Sherry Levine rephotographing a Walker Evans makes me crack up, and so do the pictures by Cindy Sherman. There’s a gutsy playfulness to that work, the playfulness of popular culture.
Warhol is the ’80s artist who wasn’t an ’80s artist. He was a ’60s or ’70s artist who did not become hugely popular until the early ’80s. Everybody was and is influenced by him; you can’t not be. David Letterman is influenced by Warhol. Even people in the mainstream are influenced by Warhol.
—As told to Tim Griffin
