Heat.

Sun Bathing, Los Angeles, CA. 2002 © Shen Wei

It's a very quiet and peaceful Saturday afternoon in downtown Manhattan. I decide to watch a old Andy Warhol classic HEAT. I love this kind of oldies from 1970s. I was born in China in 1970s when gray was the in color, that makes me curious about what was like in the west at the time. In this film, everything is peach and cyan, like a Hockney painting, bright and seductive. It is strictly Californian. I used to spend a couple of trips each year to California for the sun, the pool, the hot bodies and etc. A friend of mine who lived in this West Hollywood condo where I firmly believe to be the site of HEAT. It is also peach and cyan. Pat Ast who plays the crazy lady Lydia in the film was live behind that condo. I went to visit her and her dogs and took some photos of her. She is crazy, in an amazingly charming way. There is pool in the middle of the building, no one has ever in it, it was forever empty and pristine. I intended to jump in to recreate that famous Hockney painting. The water was way too hot, heated by the unbearable hot summer sun. One afternoon I saw this guy sun bathing by the pool wear a red Speedo. I had a flashing moment of time reversed to the 1971.