Who knew? Who knew that Andy Warhol would become an angel, full of love and the love of God and the beauty that surrounds him in the heavens above? Last night, at the Underground Museum in Los Angeles, artist Jeffrey Vallance conducted a séance with psychic medium Joseph Ross. Vallance held forth in the balmy night air at a backyard gathering complete with candles and flowers. He was seated with Ross in front of the crowd with a screen for images to reference when Andy would be appearing.

by Jeffrey Vallance

Vallance starts out with an image of his drawing depicting the “Ghost of Nixon,” hovering near the President Richard Nixon headstone. He tells the story of how he went with Ross to the Nixon Library here in Southern California. Ross channeled Nixon as they went through the library exhibition and Vallance tells the audience of the weird odor that accompanied them throughout and a buzzing he heard in his ears. Subsequently, Vallance started having nightmares with Nixon in them; later, the Nixon dreams became friendlier.

This anecdote led to Vallance’s desire to reach out to Andy Warhol, via channeler Joseph Ross. Ross sits quietly next to Vallance through the introduction, but abruptly interrupts Vallance to have a few words with the audience. Ross then tells us that he is preparing to channel Andy. He stands and walks off the stage. Vallance proceeds to tell the audience that all that was about to happen is completely authentic, no rehearsals, and he’s not even sure what to expect.

Ross reappears in a Warhol platinum wig and black glasses. He takes his seat beside Vallance, and says nothing (so far so good!). Vallance then greets “Andy” and asks if he’d like to talk about his art. This did not seem to please “Andy” but he was willing to participate. The first image to appear on the screen is the Elizabeth Taylor portrait. He looks up to the screen and pauses. Then “Andy” just says how beautiful she was and how all of us are beautiful and how his art has become one with God, and how he had to die in order to live and how all of us are beautiful and how he loves each and everyone of us.

Wha? The next image is the multiple electric chairs. Another pause from “Andy.” “Art is about fear and joy,” he finally comes up with. “It’s about endless pain.” He goes on to talk about the pain and suffering he had on earth and how he was alone and had no one, but now he has endless love and joy and he is an angle of God.

A still from Warhol’s movie Sleep appears next. Someone tells “Andy” what the image is. “Oh yes… the only time I find people tolerable—while they’re sleeping,” he replies. The audience laughs. Then “Andy” talks about how art is about peace and love. When the double image of Warhol’s car crash comes up, he says trancelike… “It’s beautiful.”

Film still from Warhol’s Sleep, 1963

When the image of Warhol’s piss paintings comes up, “Andy” responds that piss is beautiful and you can drink piss and it’s wonderful. “You have to be bad to be good,” he says matter-of-factly.

When the Velvet Underground banana album cover comes up on the screen, “Andy” says, “Be proud of your penis! I could always find a good penis.” He then goes on a mini diatribe about penises and being gay and then adds the non sequitur, “I love fucking the world.”

The last image is the Warhol dollar signs… “Andy” interprets them as “S’s” and talks about money and sex and then says everyone is lazy and they should get off their asses and do something!

“Andy” then tells us he is tired. Vallance picks up on the vibe and requests some audience questions. One audience member asks if “Andy” is mad at Valerie Solanas, (the radical feminist who shot Warhol in June of 1968) and he replies that he was disappointed at the time, but he loves her very much. Then someone asks if he knew if anyone here in the audience was going to die. He replies, “We’re already dead.”

So much for peace and love and God.

Vallance & Ross in a Salvador Dali seance.

This seance was held in conjunction with the Veils exhibition curated by Ariana Papademetropoulos and Jhordan Dahl

V E I L S
April 5 – May 22, 2014
The Underground Museum
3508 West Washington Blvd