Desmond Cadogan
Mar 30, 2014 8:19PM
Desmond, 1984
Van de Weghe Fine Art

Jean-Michel was a dear friend of mine and had been for a while when he asked me to pose for this painting which I did live at about 5am after a fun night of partying at Area nightclub in TriBeCa.  He painted it in the lost/apartment he was renting from Andy Warhol.  It was exhibited with a bunch of other portraits he did of friends which are pretty rare.  This was the first painting to hit auction about 3 months after he passed away.  It sold for an astounding $275,000 in those days.  He was an absolute sweetheart and I miss him and all the friends we lost back then from drugs or HIV/AIDS.  It was a brutal time to live in NYC.  So many talented and wonderful people dying so young all around us, from all parts of society took a heavy toll on us all psychologically.  I have many fond memories from this period as well like modeling for this and many other works of art.  Sad we had to lose Jean-Michel so early.

Desmond Cadogan