Brigid Berlin

After several years as a reluctant debutante and a failed marriage, Brigid Berlin met Andy Warhol in 1964 and quickly became a central member of his entourage. After moving to Hotel Chelsea, she took on the nickname Brigid Polk because of her habit of giving out 'pokes', injections of amphetamines. She acted in Warhol films, recorded with the Velvet Underground, and befriended Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, John Chamberlain and Larry Rivers, who all embraced her as a fellow artist.

I've always been greatly influenced and inspired by Warhol. "Brigid Berlin" is one in a series of six portraits of Warhol's Factory Superstars. I begin by making several drawings of each subject based on various historical references. These drawings are torn and cut apart into pieces so that I can "audition" them until they make a portrait of the subject.