Nico

“Nico”

16″ x 36″ mixed media on canvas.

Nico was a german singer, songwriter, model and actress. She sang with The Velvet Underground for a little while in the 60s, and was in films by Andy Warhol and Federico Fellini, among others. Basically she hung out with all the cool kids: John Cale, Lou Reed, Andy Warhol, Patti Smith, Jim Morrison. Well I imagine Jim Morrison was cool during his more coherent moments. Anyway, the thing I always felt that was tragic about Nico, which is why I added her to this series, is that she was a heroin addict in her earlier years. She eventually got off heroin, which is really, really difficult. And really, really impressive. So she finally DOES that. Then a few years later she’s riding her bike, has a heart attack, hits her head when she falls, and dies of cerebral hemmorhage. People die, it happens. I know this. It just seemed like she should have been given at least a few more years or something.