Last Wednesday, Rob Pruitt’s 7-foot-tall, chrome-plated Andy Warhol statue was installed at Union Square’s northeast corner. The location is outside the building where Warhol’s famed “Factory” was housed for 10 years in the 1970’s and early ’80’s, near an earlier “Factory” site. Pruitt was inspired by Warhol to move to New York, and met the artist when he interviewed for a job at the “Factory.” “Every day a thousand more kids come to New York propelled by his legacy,” Pruitt said of the father of Pop Art. “And even if the decades pass and Warhol’s legacy becomes further distant, there is a direct link to him — this pilgrimage, coming here to make it big, to be an artist. Like Oscar Wilde’s grave at Père Lachaise, there should be a destination in New York to mark that journey. I think something needs to be in the streets of New York, something you could visit at 4:30 in the morning.” Added Jennifer Falk, executive director of the Union Square Partnership, “Andy Warhol spent much of his time here in Union Square and so it is fitting that Rob Pruitt’s ‘The Andy Monument’ is our first public art installation to grace the new pedestrian plazas at the corner of Broadway and 17th St.” The statue will be on view till Oct. 2. Clockwise from top left: Pruitt unveiling his statue; from left, Warhol superstars Ultra Violet and Taylor Mead, along with Village writer Robert Heide; soup cans — made iconic by Warhol — left on the statue’s base (a tourist reportedly filched one); and A-list photographer Patrick McMullan angling for a shot.
