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July 2009
(to June 2009)
Warhol star Penny Arcade will be doing 9 performances of her show, Old Queen, at the Laboratory Theater at Dixon Place in New York as part of the Hot Festival in July. She'll open on July 9th and play every Thursday during the month.
The show is described as a "theatrical memoir that evokes the magic and memory of the gay men" who plucked her from the streets and raised her as she revisits the NYC neighborhoods where she began her career as a teenage runaway.
Details at: http://hotfestival.org/index.php?option=com_jcalpro&Itemid=1&extmode=view&extid=12.
Steve Rubell and Michael Jackson
(click on image to play video)
The "Andy Warhol, Mr. America" exhibition in Bogotá, Columbia, the largest exhibition of Warhol's work in Latin America, drew record crowds - over two thousand people - on its first day.
Curated by Philip Larratt-Smith in conjunction with the Andy Warhol Museum, the show at the Museo de Arte del Banco de la Republica features over 70 silk screens and paintings, the Silver Clouds, Cow Wallpaper, photographs and screenings of his films at the Fundacion Gilberto Alzate Avendano - including The Chelsea Girls, Lupe, Nude Restaurant, Imitation of Christ, Lonesome Cowboys, Poor Little Rich Girl, Beauty #2, My Hustler, Kiss, and various Screen Tests.
Added 27 June 2009: Photos from the booksigning event can be found at:
http://guestofaguest.com/nyc-parties/lou-reed-and-julian-schnabel-book-signing-party-for-berlin.
Front cover of the new book Berlin: A Performance
by Lou Reed Directed by Julian Schnabel
(Published by Rizzoli)
Billy Name will be returning to Manhattan on Thursday, June 25th to attend the booksigning/reception for a new book documenting Lou Reed's rock opera, Berlin, directed by Julian Schnabel. In addition to images from the film, the book includes a rare conversation between Reed and Schnabel and the lyrics of Reed's original verse. The invitation-only reception at the Steven Kasher Galley in Manhattan will begin at 6:00 pm on the 25th.
The Steven Kasher Gallery is Billy Name's new representative. In addition to representing Name, Kasher also lists on his roster of artists Lou Reed, Herb Ritts, Bob Colacello, Irving Penn, Dennis Hopper and others. (A full artist list can be found at: http://www.stevenkasher.com/html/artists.asp) The gallery recently moved from the 2nd to the ground floor of their building.
Details for the Steven Kasher Gallery can be found on their website at:
http://www.stevenkasher.com.
The website for Berlin, the film, can be found at: http://www.berlinthefilm.com.
More on Lou Reed on his website at:
http://www.loureed.com/00/index.html (move the cursor to the right of the page to access the full menu).
Billy Name's website can be found at: http://billyname.com.
One of the treasures in Andy Warhol Treasures: A facsimile of a card that Edie Sedgwick
sent to Andy Warhol the day after he was shot by Valerie Solanas.
(Edie's return address is the New York Psychiatric Institute.)
A review by the film director Ken Russell of the recently published book, Andy Warhol Treasures, has appeared in the Times in London. You can read it here. Russell notes in the article that Warhol's "effect on the world of art, Pop Art and, even more significantly, modern celebrity culture was and remains so huge that when he died in 1987 from a routine gall-bladder operation, the Village Voice gave its cover to his photo with the headline, 'Is God Dead?'"
The above card from Edie to Andy is just one of the treasures in the book which contains, in addition to the text, envelopes filled with high quality facsimiles, including pages from A Gold Book (1955), the stencils Warhol used for some of his Soup Cans, a bill from the hospital Warhol attended after being shot by Valerie Solanas, a poster of the Velvet Underground at Steve Paul's club The Scene, a copy of Warhol's passport and high school transcript (showing an IQ of 104), a postcard announcement of Warhol's first exhibition in New York in 1952 and the front cover of the March 1972 issue of Interview and an article from the magazine, "At Home with Candy Darling" with Candy in Marilyn Monroe-like poses. There are over 20 such facsimiles included with the book - in addition to the high quality reproductions of Warhol's art, photographs and ephemera within the book itself. In other words - Wow. Buy this book before the first edition goes out of print.
Joe Dallesandro will be attending the screening of the new documentary about his life - Little Joe - at the Castro cinema in San Francisco on Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 4:15 pm. The screening is part of Frameline 33 - the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival - the longest running LGBT film exhibition event in the world.
Details at: http://www.frameline.org/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=1767&FID=45.
The film's website is at: http://www.littlejoeproductions.com.
Music by ex-Mamas and Papas member, John Phillips, from the off-Broadway show, Man on the Moon, presented by Andy Warhol and directed by Paul Morrissey, will be released on July 21, 2009. It will include live recordings of the show made by Warhol from the audience and previously unreleased video rehearsal footage shot by Warhol. One of the songs from the CD, Star Stepping Stranger, can be heard on John Phillips' website at: http://papajohnphillips.com/news1.htm.The show was the last project that Paul Morrissey worked on for Warhol. With a cast that included Flesh for Frankenstein diva, Monique van Vooren, it ran for less than a week after underwhelming reviews. Details at: http://www.warholstars.org/chron/manonthemoon.html.
The Amazon page for the CD is here.
Raven Row in London, which hosted the "Ray Johnson Please Add to & Return" exhibition, has put up an large selection of his moticos, collages and mailings in an online gallery on their website. The gallery can be found by going to http://www.ravenrow.org/exhibition/rayjohnson/ and clicking on one of the "Image galleries" on the upper right-hand side of the page.
Detail from Billy Name photo/Steven Kasher Gallery
(Photo currently on exhibit in the Ray Johnson show at the Feigen Gallery)
Johnson (pictured above assisting Warhol on Jill Johnston (Dancing)) was a friend of Warhol's and a 'friend of Dorothy' as well - Dorothy Podber who shot some of Andy Warhol's Marilyns (inadvertently increasing their value considerably) and who is referenced in some of Johnson's works. What can be said about Ray Johnson that hasn't been said before? Referred to as a Fluxus artist by some, a Pop artist by others, his collages have been compared to Robert Rauschenberg's Combines by Donna de Salvo and he has been referred to as "one of the great chroniclers of the post 1946 Mass Age" by Michael Bracewell. Nick Cernovitch, co-founder of Diane di Prima's New York Poets Theater, called him a "reincarnated Buddha."
Ray's fascination with death was evidenced by his fascination with Warhol stars who died in tragic circumstances - Candy Darling, Andrea Feldman and Jackie Curtis - all of whom were referenced in Johnson's work at one time or another. Johnson, himself, committed suicide in 1995 by swimming out to sea and never returning - not unlike factoryite Danny Williams who had done the same in 1966 off the coast of New England. (See deaths of Candy Darling, Andrea Feldman, Jackie Curtis and Danny Williams) One project that Ray was working on during his life was "The Book about Death" - a series of "multilithoed" sheets by Johnson that were recently reproduced in a facsimile edition by the art theorist William S. Wilson.
Yet, despite the links to death in his art, Ray Johnson was remembered for his exuberance in life. Billy Name recalls that "... walking down the street with Ray Johnson... it becomes alive. The fire hydrants are artistically, aesthetically alive all of a sudden and part of your world and engaging with you... and all of a sudden you see the world as this wonderful, delightful, joyful, playful place and it doesn't stop... like it's something you get when you're with Ray and then you go away and say 'gee I oughta see Ray again and get that feeling.'"
From November 6, 2009 to April 1, 2010, an exhibition of Johnson's work will be taking place alongside another of his friends - the composer John Cage - at the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona. Details on the MACBA site at: http://www.macba.cat/controller.php?p_action=show_page&pagina_id=52&inst_id=26358.
The main page of the Raven Row gallery, with details of their current exhibition, can be found at:
http://www.ravenrow.org.
I have re-worked my essay on the influence (or non-influence) of John Cage's production of Eric Satie's Vexations on the editing of Warhol's film, Sleep, taking into consideration the claim by Pompidou Centre curator Emma Lavigne in the Warhol Live exhibition catalogue that "the impact made by this concert was decisive and inspired the artist to the unprecedented, repetitive structure of his film Sleep..."
The new essay can be found at: http://www.warholstars.org/news/johncage.html.
Andy Warhol's Factory People - a documentary produced by Patrick Nagle and Yves Billon and directed by Catherine O'Sullivan Shorr - is now available on DVD. The film incorporates what must be a record number of interviews with Warhol's superstars interspersed with archival footage of New York during both the Beat and Pop eras. The DVD is a limited "Director's Cut" edition of the three hour series that was broadcast on OvationTV in the U.S. and on Sky Arts in the U.K. - a fascinating account of Warhol's silver Factory which can be ordered directly from the producer by emailing him at: patricknagle@yahoo.com.
Further details about the film can be found on the Planet Group Entertainment website at:
http://planetgroupentertainment.squarespace.com/andy-warhols-factory-people/.
A major exhibition of work by graffiti artist Banksy has opened at the Bristol Museum in the U.K. and continues until August 2009. In 2008 Banksy's Warhol-like screen print of super-model Kate Moss went for three times its estimate at an auction at Bonhams. The work had been included in the previous year's exhibition Warhol vs. Banksy at The Hospital gallery in London.
The Bristol Museum exhibition was organized secretly to protect the true identity of the artist who nobody has yet managed to identify. Visitors to the museum were told that it was being used for a film during the hanging of the show and even the Bristol City Council was kept in the dark. A video of the exhibition can be found on the BBC website at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8094839.stm.
Banksy's agent, Steve Lazarides, recently opened a new gallery in London - on Rathbone Place - where the opening show is an ”Outsiders" group show with new work from Antony Micallef, Bast, Conor Harrington, David Choe, Faile, Jonathan Yeo, JR, Vhils, and others. Details at: http://www.lazinc.com/news/.
Billy Name
(Photo: David Shankbone)
The official Factory photographer, Billy Name, has recently changed agents. His new representative is Steven Kasher of the the Steven Kasher Gallery in New York who is also Lou Reed's photographic agent. Billy's work is well-known amongst Warhol aficionados. As the person who designed Warhol's silver Factory and the only person in Warhol's coterie to have actually lived at the Factory on a ongoing basis, Name was particularly well-placed to document the era. He also appeared in numerous Warhol films including two Screen Tests, Haircut, Couch, The Thirteen Most Beautiful Boys, Lupe, Since and Nude Restaurant.
Andy Warhol (via Pat Hackett in Popism):
"I'd gotten myself a 35-mm still camera and for a few weeks there I was taking photographs, but it was too complicated for me. I got impatient with the f-stops, shutter speeds, the light readings, so I dropped it. But Billy started using the camera and his 'Factory Fotos' caught the exact mood of everything that was happening - embalmed-in-action: the smoky atmosphere, the parties, the broken bits of mirror, the silver, the velvets, the planes of faces and bodies, the fights, the clowning, even the attitudes and the depression. Billy had the magic timing that could get it all at the right split second... Everybody adored Billy." (POP74)
Billy's new agent, Steven Kasher, can be contacted via his gallery at 521 West 23 St., NY, NY, 10011/Telephone 212 - 966 3978/email: steve@stevenkasher.com. The website for the Steven Kasher Gallery is at: http://www.stevenkasher.com.
Left: Village Voice ad, March 31, 1966/Right: Village Voice ad April 7, 1966
(click on image to enlarge)
Site-user Thomas Kiedrowski has sent me the above ads from the Village Voice which show that initially the Exploding Plastic Inevitable was advertised as the "Erupting" Plastic Inevitable.
Although most people refer to the EPI at "the Dom" it actually premiered in the hall above the Dom Bar. According to "Bob" John Liikala who ran the Open Stage, "no one referred to my site as the Dom, it was the 'Open Stage.' Just to set history straight, 'Dom Inc.' did not premiere the [E.P.I.] event, it didn't even exist." (See APRIL 1966: THE VELVETS PLAY THE DOM)