Famous for 15 Minutes

Book excerpt: One of Andy Warhol’s superstars recalls the birth of an art movement—and the death of an icon In this audacious tell-all memoir, Ultra Violet, born Isabelle Collin Dufresne, relives her years with Andy Warhol at the Factory and all of the madness that accompanied the sometimes-violent delivery of pop art. Starting with her botched seduction of the “shy, near-blind, bald, gay albino” from Pittsburgh, Ultra Violet installs herself in Warhol’s world, becoming his muse for years to come. But she does more than just inspire; she also watches, listens, and remembers, revealing herself to be an ideal tour guide to the “assembly line for art, sex, drugs, and film” that is the Factory. Famous for 15 Minutes drips with juicy details about celebrities and cultural figures in vignettes filled with surreptitious cocaine spoons, shameless sex, and insights into perhaps the most recognizable but least intimately known artist in the world. Beyond the legendary artist himself are the throngs of Factory “regulars”—Billy Name, Baby Jane Holzer, Brigid Polk—and the more transient celebrities who make appearances—Bob Dylan, Jane Fonda, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon. Delightfully bizarre and always entertaining, filled with colorful scenes and larger-than-life personalities, this dishy page-turner is shot through with the author’s vivid imagery and piercing observations of a cultural idol and his eclectic, voyeuristic, altogether riveting world.