Gerard Malanga at Catskills' Beattie-Powers Place
Moments in Time: Pictures 1965-2023
By: Charles Giuliano - Oct 11, 2023
Gerard Malanga
Moments in Time: Pictures 1965-2023
Beattie-Powers Place
14 Prospect Place
Catskill, NY, 12414
Opening reception : Sunday October 15, 2-5pm
Poetry reading 4pm
On view Saturdays,
October 21-December 10, 12-4pm
Curated by Martina Salisbury
I first encountered Gerard Malanga, erotically slithered into tight, black leather pants, performing his S&M whip dance with the Velvet Underground at the Balloon Farm, St. Mark’s Place, in Manhattan.
The renowned poet’s day gig was working with Andy Warhol as a studio assistant by day and side kick by night in the back room, under a Dan Flavin illuminated sculpture, at the artists’ hangout Max’s Kansas City.
We later met as fellow celebrants at Camp Sunshine in the Berkshires. There I came to know him intimately as The G.
Reflecting Andy’s involvement with film and media The G documented this living history with his Nikon. He was at ground zero for often outré cultural events and through the Factory photographed movers and shakers during a particularly rich creative era. Mostly he was just there at the right time and place.
Oddly he is a bit of a klutz and ludite. He mastered low tech assisting Andy to create silk screened works that now sell in the millions. During the movement of underground movies he was present on and off camera.
While he created masterful portraits and images he never learned to process or print film. Now deceased, he often relied on Liza Condon, the daughter of jazz guitarist and nightclub owner, Eddie Condon. At times he would “shoot a cube” of a model.
With tough love a friend locked him in the dark room to develop a roll of film. When finally released the G was in a cold sweat with nothing to show for it.
In his defense one might note that vintage photojournalists working for major magazines and media outlets sent the film back to be processed and printed. That’s the tech end of the creative process.
Gerard is a meticulous archivist and his materials have proven to be invaluable for researchers. It is always thrilling to me when his classic images are used by mainstream media. His name is in the rolodex of editors and art directors looking to illustrate articles and books.
Some years ago, he moved first to Great Barrington and then to Hudson, New York. In monastic hipster hibernation he continues to create and publish prolifically. He still works on his memoir. From time to time I ask for a progress report.
Perhaps one day he will donate the whip and leather pants to a museum. Oh those memories of golden years. The Museum of Fine Arts Boston acquired my Nudie’s of Hollywood rhinestone cowboy suit.
Sic transit Gloria mundi.
Gallery Press Release
In collaboration with curator/designer Martina Salisbury, The Friends of Beattie-Powers Place is pleased to host Moments in Time :: Pictures 1965-2023. The intimate salon installation offers a rare opportunity to view a selection of over 60 of Gerard Malanga’s photographs, including portraits of some of the most illustrious artists, musicians, literary figures, and cultural icons of the last six decades.
Born in the Bronx in 1943, Gerard Malanga is a poet, photographer, and Warhol Superstar. He is often referred to as Andy Warhol’s most important associate at the Silver Factory, where he worked as chief assistant to Warhol from 1963 to 1970. In addition to working on some of Warhol’s most significant paintings, Malanga filmed over 500 “Screen Tests” inside the famed Factory art studio. Malanga co-founded Interview magazine in 1969.
Malanga’s career in photography began formally in 1969, when George Plimpton commissioned him to photograph the poet Charles Olson for an interview in The Paris Review. Shortly thereafter Malanga began carrying a camera everywhere he went, taking photographs of friends and acquaintances. In chronicling his impressive social circle, Malanga has amassed a stunning array of candid and formal portraits, many of which appear in this exhibition for the first time.
A lifelong poet, Malanga is the author of more than a dozen books of poetry spanning a nearly 50-year period, including No Respect: New & Selected Poems 1964-2000 (Black Sparrow Press, 2001), Cool & Other Poems (Bottle of Smoke Press, 2019), and The New Mélancholia & Other Poems (Bottle of Smoke Press, 2021). His poems have appeared in Poetry, Raritan, Yale Review, Harvard Review, The Paris Review, Partisan Review, and The New Yorker. Malanga recently completed his memoirs, In Remembrance of Things Past.
Four photography monographs of Malanga’s work have been published; two Spoken Word CD compilations; and he co-authored with Victor Bockris the internationally acclaimed Up-Tight: The Velvet Underground Story. In 2003, he produced the double CD of Angus MacLise’s selected tapes called The Cloud Doctrine. He is also the author of the 4-volume set, AM: Archives Malanga (2012), consisting of essays, sketches, photography and poetry.
He lives with his cat Odie in upstate New York. His website gerardmalangaofficial.com
MARTINA SALISBURY received her MFA in Design from the School of Visual Arts (2000) and has been working as a creative director and designer in New York City for the past two decades. A former senior designer at the Museum of Modern Art, Martina is the founding creative director of TwoSeven Inc. in Brooklyn. Specialized in publications and productions for high-profile fashion companies, museums, and cultural clients, Martina also exercises her creative energy by working on independent design, editorial and curatorial projects involving photography, history and archives. Martina is also a published poet.
For further information, please contact info@beattiepowers.org