"Andy's chest"
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Notice the button on Andy Warhol's jacket:
Source: The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné, vol. 4 (Paintings and Sculptures Late 1974-1976).
Enlarged and rotated detail of just the button:
It says:
Jímī Kǎtè
吉咪卡特
("Jimmy Carter")
Warhol did make a brief trip to China in 1982 (see here and here), and he did produce some art related to Jimmy Carter in the 70s (see here).
Incidentally, Jimmy Carter's daughter, Amy, had a Siamese cat with a partially Chinese-sounding name, Misty Malarky Ying Yang.
Other than that, I don't have any clues about why Andy Warhol was wearing that Jimmy Carter button in Chinese.
[Thanks to Mark Swofford, Qing Liao, Lin Zhang, Leqi Yu, Buyun Chen, and Aona Zhou]
Mark S. said,
February 25, 2020 @ 6:29 pm
What surprising combination!
"Andy's Chest" is a good title for the post because it echoes the decidedly odd Velvet Underground song of the same name, which was a tribute to him after he was shot. (Warhol produced their first album.)
y said,
February 25, 2020 @ 6:52 pm
Jimmy Carter, yah!
Victor Mair said,
February 26, 2020 @ 1:04 am
From Alan Kennedy:
It looks like Warhol was in China with his then lover, Jon Gould.
https://www.christies.com/features/Warhol-artworks-from-Jon-Gould-Collection-10304-1.aspx?sc_lang=en
Snapshots of a love affair: Gifts from Andy Warhol to Jon Gould | Christie's
Three works from the collection of Jon Gould offer insights into his relationship with Andy Warhol in 1980s New York
http://www.christies.com
ycx said,
February 26, 2020 @ 2:14 am
One strange thing about that badge is that the "吉" has the lower horizontal stroke significantly longer than the upper stroke, whereas the opposite is true for normal writing.
Victor Mair said,
February 26, 2020 @ 4:37 am
For more on "Andy's Chest", see here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy%27s_Chest
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"Andy's Chest" is a song written by Lou Reed, inspired by the 1968 attempt on Andy Warhol's life. In June 1968, radical feminist writer Valerie Solanas shot Warhol and Mario Amaya, art critic and curator, at Warhol's studio.
The band The Velvet Underground of which Reed was a member, initially recorded the song in 1969, but the definitive version appears on Lou Reed's 1972 own release: Transformer, co-produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson.
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J.W. Brewer said,
February 26, 2020 @ 8:17 am
I too thought of the song as soon as I saw the title of the post and the picture, but thinking of the song did NOT make me anticipate the appearance of Jimmy Carter.