Gay & Lesbian

The last surviving Warhol Dandy (image: 'Holly Woodlawn Dressing II' By Sadie Lee

It was March 2003 and I was in Amsterdam, where ‘the world’s most famous drag queen’, was making an appearance. I’d made a hasty arrangement over the phone with her agent to fly over and talk to Holly Woodlawn about her posing for a series of portraits. I calculated that superstars of Holly’s calibre equalled excessive glamour so I wore my loudest suit, a striped, double-breasted affair straight out of a Jimmy Cagney movie.

When I arrived at the venue I instantly regretted my drag, as the cultural citizens of Amsterdam were decidedly casual in jeans and T-shirts.

There was some commotion and suddenly Holly Woodlawn was in the building. A small but charismatic figure sheathed in layers of gold lamé and a voluminous auburn wig, she was buried in an entourage of photographers, boom-swinging sound guys and camera operators filming her every wave and pout for an upcoming documentary. As I watched the scrum I thought: I am never going to get anywhere near her. The crowd filed into a screening of ‘Trash’, the 1970 Warhol-produced cult film, in which Holly plays the transvestite girlfriend of leading man Joe Dallesandro. Feature continues

Having seen the film many times I decided to duck out to the bar for a little Dutch courage. Amazingly, there sat Holly with only one other person and plenty of empty chairs. She clocked my crazy suit and beckoned me over, growling, ‘Who’s this fabulous creature? Come here, honey.’ I knelt and kissed her outstretched hand, whispering ‘Holly, I’m the artist from England. I’ve come to paint your portrait.’

Most people know Holly as the first character in ‘Walk on the Wild Side’, Lou Reed’s respectful nod to New York’s sexual subculture of the early 1970s. Via some colourful imagery, ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ tells the stories of assorted high-ranking members of Andy Warhol’s notorious Factory set. Holly is the last surviving bona fide member from the inner circle of Factory life. Candy Darling, Holly’s roommate and co-star of ‘Women in Revolt’, died of leukaemia in 1974. Close pal Jackie Curtis overdosed on heroin in 1985. These days Holly doesn’t necessarily court publicity but finds that the world won’t allow her to give up her profession of ‘being Holly Woodlawn’. She confided recently that ‘Andy said everyone would be famous for 15 minutes. I wanna know when my 15 minutes are up so I can relax.’

Three years after our Amsterdam introduction and financially assisted by the Arts Council, Salford City Council, queerupnorth and The Drill Hall, I went to California to spend a week in Holly’s apartment, taking photographs and gathering material to make a series of oil paintings of her in my London studio.

Of course, her connection to Andy Warhol and Lou Reed is fascinating stuff. This was without doubt the reason I knew who she was and was interested in painting her in the first place. But as I spent time with her in Los Angeles I became less concerned with her past and more interested in her ambiguously gendered body and how she feels about getting older. I began to explore not just who Holly was but who she is.

On seeing the paintings people always ask: ‘How did you get her to pose for you without drag?’ I always answer truthfully: ‘I asked her if she would and she said “yes’’.’ Recently I decided to ask her myself why she let me portray her very private self. She shrugged. ‘I’m a very good judge of character. I trusted you.’

Holly has not yet seen the finished paintings. Given her status as a sexagenarian legend and the fact she’s coming to England for the London opening of the exhibition, I decided not to send her prints of the paintings in advance but take her into the gallery privately and explain the decisions I’d made. She caught me off guard on the phone last week by saying that her friend Connie had found images of the paintings on a website. Connie had told her they weren’t glamorous. She laughed and said: ‘I told her, “So what? Glamour you can buy in a jar”.’ Holly went on to describe the paintings as ‘exquisite’, especially the one of her with the walking frame that she now relies on. ‘A piece of art,’ says Holly Woodlawn, ‘if it’s done with love, will always be beautiful.’ Spoken like a true superstar.

‘And Then He Was a She – Paintings of Holly Woodlawn by Sadie Lee’ is at The Drill Hall Gallery, 16 Chenies St, WC1 from October1 until November 11.