Film UbuWebBrigid Polk (1939–2020)
Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story (2000)
Brigid Polk (Brigid Berlin) was born on September 6, 1939. Her parents were Richard E. Berlin, the chairman of the Hearst media empire for 52 years, and socialite "Honey" Berlin. Brigid Berlin gained fame mainly as a muse and close friend of Andy Warhol, but she acted as artist as well. Her Polaroid’s from 1969 and 1970 are well-known. What made Brigid's Polaroid’s unique was that she often double exposed them which had not been done previously. When Polaroid brought out a camera that enabled double exposures, Brigid took full advantage of it when photographing others or herself - double exposed self portrait Polaroid’s. Moreover, Berlin also made some noise in the art world with her „One Woman” Off-Broadway performances and her Tit paintings. Berlin's technique for her Tit paintings consisted of dipping her breasts in paint and then pressing them down onto canvas. She even performed this live at the Grammercy International Art Fair.
Brigid Berlin met Andy Warhol in 1964 and became one of the few „superstars” of the eccentric artist. She was nicknamed Brigid Polk because of the "pokes" she liked to give herself and others in the factory - injections of speed. Already at the age of eleven, the overweight Brigid was sent to the family doctor to get amphetamines and Dexedrine as an appetite suppressant. For the rest of her life, Brigid Berlin had to struggle with alcoholism and drug addiction.
From 1975 into the 1980s, Berlin was working as a permanent staff at the factory, and she was helping with the magazine Interview. She once described her job there like this: "I would transcribe interviews, and then for many years I didn't do anything. I used to knit and needlepoint under the desk. It wasn't like a job, so that's why I stayed there so long.“
She participated in a few more films of Andy Warhol, and also she had some guest roles in Films of other directors. In 1998, Brigid performed another stage show - a monologue about one of her obsessions - cleaning products.
RESOURCES:
Brigid Polk in UbuWeb Sound