The Interior Design Freak

Ricky Clifton

Artist, interior designer and writer, 71; Gramercy Park, Manhattan

Why New York: “When I met Andy Warhol in Dallas [in high school], I told him I was moving to the city. He said, ‘When you get there, call me.’ Every time I called the Factory, he’d pick up the phone. He was old-school like that. Artists were like Jewish mothers — there was a community.”

Freakiest gig: “I’ve been driving since I was 11, so when I moved to New York in 1975, I drove delivery trucks for florists. I worked for Tony DiPace, who had a place below Halston’s [studio]. I put up Lauren Bacall’s Christmas tree.”

Favorite freak: “I don’t know why Lady Bunny isn’t really famous. She’s better than RuPaul. She should have her own TV show.”

The Masked Freak

Narcissister

Artist, 53; Clinton Hill, Brooklyn

Origin story: “As a child I was seeing images in the world that were kind of surreal. For example, I remember saying to my mother that I could see my Girl Scouts leader’s face in the shape of my fingernail. A lot of my house in Southern California had wood paneling, and I’d see what looked like vulvas in the grain.”

Signature look: “When I started the Narcissister project around 2006, I knew I wanted to wear a mask and a merkin. I had been working as a window display designer when I took my mask from a wig display form. I cut holes in it to see and breathe.”