One Sentence or Less
Collier Schorr, Artist
What did you do immediately before this questionnaire?
I tried on the suit Thom Browne made for my opening.
What will you do immediately following this questionnaire?
Put it on and go to my opening.
What is your idea of bliss?
Having a place to go and having a place to stay.
What is your idea of misery?
Being without a place to show or print my work and words.
What is the strangest article of clothing in your closet?
German policeman’s green leather motorcycle pants.
What is your proudest moment?
Giving a speech at the Deutsche Guggenheim to introduce the show I curated.
What is your greatest regret?
Not going to Andy Warhol’s Factory when I was 18 and asking for a job…
What would be the first sentence of your biography?
Born in Queens…
What catchphrase do you use the most?
Just kidding.
What is your best personality trait?
Asking questions and being interested in the lives of others.
What is your worst personality trait?
Thinking about myself in the third person.
What is the most inspiring place you’ve visited?
Schwabisch Gmund, Germany, where I made my work for 18 years.
What is your most embarrassing fashion moment?
Red cowboy boots, a Geoffrey Beene prairie skirt, and a homemade pin with a picture of the model Leslie Weiner.
What is your most triumphant fashion moment?
I look forward to that moment.
What do you do when you’re creatively blocked?
Shop.
What is the most attractive quality in a person?
Laughter.
What makes you feel the most alive?
Making something that alternates between looking good and crap, but secretly I know it’s good.
What is your best talent, after your work?
Talking.
What would you ask for if you were granted one wish?
Besides the obvious? The feeling of freedom when I travel.
What was the last thing that made you laugh uncontrollably?
Telling someone they looked like someone I used to know and finding out they knew the person and referred to them as clownface.
What is your greatest fear?
Fear. I wish I wasn’t fearful.
What has been your greatest loss?
My ex-girlfriend’s mother, Sofia. She was the best person I ever knew.
Who was your favorite cartoon character as a child?
Christopher Robin.
What is the best gift you’ve ever received?
My Rolleiflex camera from my dad and a collage Richard Prince made for me when a girl broke my heart in the 80s.
What is the best gift you’ve ever given?
I made a needlepoint sampler of my art dealer’s house, with a carriage parked outside, for her Christmas tree.
What historical figure would you most like to meet?
Generally those people end up being very disappointing but I guess I would take a chance on Gertrude Stein.
What is your most treasured possession?
My great-grandmother’s wedding band, which she sliced in half to share with her sister.
What have you marched in the streets for?
Against police violence in the East Village and money to fight AIDS.
What would you march in the streets for?
I don’t march anymore and I fucked up my hip shooting fashion.
What is your drag name? (name of first pet + name of first street)
Louellen Walnut.
If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
To run at light speed.
If you could erase one memory, what would it be?
Breaking up.
If you could live out one fantasy, what would it be?
To be a spy in WWII.
If you could change your life in one way, what would it be?
Be constantly active.
Collier Schorr, Journals & Notebooks, October 30 – December 4, 2010, 303 Gallery, 547 W. 21st Street, New York.