Andy Behrman’s “ELECTROBOY” Documents Bipolar Madness

Originally published in 2002, Electroboy documents Andy Behrman’s downward spiral into a bipolar psychosis.  Behrman was born in January 1962, not far from New York City.  Being bipolar myself, I identified closely with his descriptions of various horrible depressions, ecstatic manias, obsessive compulsive and suicidal thinking. 

Behrman attended Wesleyan University and upon graduation went to live in NYC, hoping to start an independent film company.  When that opportunity failed, he went to work for Georgio Armani.  Armani was celebrating his first American flagship store in the heart of Manhattan.  In a world of chaos Andy played a key role in helping to ensure the store opened on time.  He served as a jack of all trades assisting VIPs from around the world or sometimes just going out to pick up lunch.



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However, the whole time Behrman was blitzed out of his mind with delusional thoughts dominating his brain.  The bipolar disease had taken over his thought process.  Soon he became a fully nude male performer at a homosexual dive, eventually lapsing into prostitution, becoming a whore himself.  Behrman welcomed every opportunity to do drugs.  Hey, wanna smoke some coke?  Great, bring it on!

PR was always Behrman’s first love, in one form or another, schmoozing at parties and art openings, creating street buzz out of thin air. One day he was scheduled to interview the non-artist Mark Kostabi, notorious for having other people paint his paintings for him, adding nothing more than merely his signature.  Behrman knew Kostabi was the flavor of the month “it” artist and wound up staying on to work in the bizarre “Kostabi World” which put him smack in the middle of the big money international art scene.

Except Behrman got a little too greedy.  He and a co-worker started forging fake Kostabis to be sold in Japan under the radar so nobody would notice.  Behrman loved taking flights to Berlin, flying by the seat of his pants, with no thought of any consequences.  Well, their plan failed and after a trial that made a scandal in the NYC papers, Behrman was sentenced to five months incarceration at a minimum security penitentiary.



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            All the while, Andy was juggling various shrinks, multiple mis-diagnosis, and tons of pills every day.  Eventually things got so terrible, the depression, fear and paranoia, it seemed there would be no end to the misery.  Finally, in a last ditch attempt to avoid suicide, Behrman turned to ECT (electroconvulsive therapy).  Behrman had nineteen(!) ECT sessions and now apparently lives mania free in the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Learn more at www.electroboy.com