Jarvis, 1996
David
Shapiro: Every time I begin an interview, it's always hard to know
what to ask...
Elizabeth Peyton: I find it's much better when you don't know the
person you're interviewing.
DS: Because, if I already knew you, I'd be feigning ignorance to
ask about your new book...
EP: Well, it's not really done yet... but it's about Tony. It's
about one man, and it's about love, first of all, and it's about how one
person can really change everything. It's sort of like what my work's
always about - but this book, in particular, is about meeting this person
-- he reminded me so much of Napoleon when I first met him. Napoleon didn't
change the world just by being brutal - it's also because he was really
magnetic and really sexy - he's a beautiful man and he had a big vision
about life. When I met Tony, I had the same feeling - when he walked into
a room, people would really change around him, and he wasn't even trying.
And I could just see it, especially more when I didn't know him that well,
because it was so different being around his air, and now I'm really used
to it - so I wanted to make a book about that - just about one man. It's
also a kind of a story of me getting closer to him over the course of
a year - the camera gets closer to him, and I'm less shy around him.
DS: The art becomes closer physically?
EP: Physically and also emotionally. The book is inspired by a
Shakespeare poem - one of those sonnets. Shakespeare wrote to this young
man and said that all the wars in the world can happen, everything can
change, but I'm going to make art inspired by you, and you'll live forever.
That's a beautiful idea.