Gerard Malanga (original) (raw)

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American poet, photographer, filmmaker, actor, curator and archivist

Gerard Malanga
Malanga in 2005
Born Gerard Joseph Malanga (1943-03-20) March 20, 1943 (age 83)New York City, New York, U.S.
Education University of CincinnatiWagner College
Occupations Poet photographer filmmaker actor curator and archivist
Years active 1962–present
Website gerardmalangaofficial.com

Gerard Joseph Malanga (born March 20, 1943) is an American poet, photographer, filmmaker, actor, curator, and archivist.

Malanga worked for pop artist Andy Warhol from 1963 to 1970.[1] The New York Times referred to him as "Andy Warhol's most important associate."[2][3] He began as Warhol's studio assistant, helping him with the silkscreening of his paintings. Later, he was appointed as a founding editor of Warhol's Interview magazine. As a Warhol superstar, he also appeared in a number of underground films.

His photography spans over four decades and includes portraits, nudes, and the urban documentation of "New York's Changing Scene." Malanga, who is primarily a poet, considered his portraits to be "poetry on film." He has directed several films and written books.

In 2024, Malanga was elected as a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.[4]

Early life and education

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Malanga was born on March 20, 1943, in the Bronx, a borough of New York City, and raised on Fordham Road.[5] He was the only child of Italian immigrant parents. His father, Gerardo Malanga, was a dry goods salesman.[5] His early drawing ability was supported by his parents, who signed him up for an after-school art program.[5]

In 1959, Malanga became a regular on Alan Freed's The Big Beat, televised on Channel 5 (WNEW) in New York City.[6]

By his senior year, Malanga was interested in becoming a poet, but he was also studying graphic design and advertising at the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan.[7] In 1960, he graduated from high school with a major in Advertising Design. After graduating, Malanga enrolled at the University of Cincinnati's' College of Art & Design but flunked out within a year.[7][8] He subsequently met Wagner College professor Willard Maas, whose Brooklyn Heights apartment served as a literary salon.[8] Impressed by Malanga's poetry, Maas encouraged him to restart his studies at Wagner College on Staten Island and, in 1961, secured him a fellowship on the condition that he maintain top grades.[5][8]

At Wagner, Malanga became part of a writing community. He befriended one of his English professors, Willard Maas, and his wife Marie Menken, who became his mentors.[9] He also made friends with Saul Bellow and Robert Lowell.[5] He attended a symposium with Kay Boyle, Frank O'Hara, LeRoi Jones, and Kenneth Koch.[5] Malanga won the first Gotham Book Mart Avant-Garde Poetry Prize.[5] He was also an editor for the journal Wagner Literary Magazine.[10]

Andy Warhol and the Factory

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Gerard Malanga featured with the Velvet Underground in the May 28, 1966, issue of KRLA Beat

In 1963, Malanga was looking for a summer job when poet Charles Henri Ford introduced him pop artist Andy Warhol.[11] Malanga had previously silkscreened fabrics for a necktie designer, and Warhol needed assistance with silkscreening.[5] He was immediately hired by Warhol at $1.25 per hour.[5] "The first was the Elizabeth Taylor portrait. Ethel Scull 36 Times, Elvis Presley, Death and Disasters—we put out a lot of stuff, just the two of us," Malanga recalled.[5] In September, Malanga drove to California with Warhol, Wynn Chamberlain, and Taylor Mead for Warhol's solo exhibition at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles. He never returned to Wagner College. "That summer job lasted seven years," he said.[5]

Malanga was also involved in Warhol's filmmaking at the Factory. He appeared in films such as Kiss (1964), Harlot (1964), Soap Opera (1964), Couch (1964), Vinyl (1965), and Camp (1965). He played a combination of Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby in Warhol's film Since (1966).

Malanga dated model and debutante Susan Bottomly in 1966.[12] After introducing her to Warhol, she was given the new moniker International Velvet. Malanga and Bottomly costarred in the film Chelsea Girls (1966).[13]

In 1966, Malanga choreographed a dance for Warhol's multimedia presentation, The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, featuring musical performances by the Velvet Underground and Nico.[14]

Malanga and Warhol collaborated on the nearly 500 individual 3-minute Screen Tests, which resulted in a selection for a book of the same name, published by Kulchur Press, in 1967.[15][16] He co-produced Bufferin (1967), in which he reads his poetry and diaries.[17] It is deemed to be the longest spoken-word movie on record at 33-minutes nonstop.[_citation needed_]

In 1967, Malanga went to Italy to show his film In Search Of The Miraculous at the Bergamo Film Festival.[18] While visiting friends in Rome, he ran out of money and reached out to Warhol for financial assistance.[18] When Warhol did not respond, he decided to make a movie instead. To fund this project, Malanga planned to sell paintings based on images of Che Guevara's corpse, the recently deceased hero of the Cuban Revolution.[18] He intended to create Warhol-style silkscreen paintings and sell them as original Warhol works.[18] He wrote to Warhol explaining his plans and requesting his cooperation.[18] After receiving no reply, he proceeded with the scheme and arranged to exhibit the works at Galleria La Tartaruga in February 1968.[18] The gallerist, Plinio De Martiis, wanted to confirm that he was permitted to sell the works, so he contacted Warhol's New York dealer, Leo Castelli, who notified Warhol.[18] Warhol claimed the works were authentic to save Malanga from imprisonment, but informed Martiis that Malanga was not authorized to sell them.[18][19]

Malanga (hanging on the wall) with Andy Warhol, who is holding a leash, and members of the Factory: Candy Darling against the wall, Brigid Berlin and Geraldine Smith on leashes, Jed Johnson holding a camera, and Ingrid Superstar leashed to the wall. Photo by Claude Picasso for Esquire, 1969

Upon returning to New York, Malanga apologized to Warhol for the forgeries and resumed work at the Factory after Warhol survived an assassination attempt in June 1968.[18][20] During his absence, Warhol had asked his boyfriend Jed Johnson to take over as his assistant, but Johnson did not like the hands-on, messy work of silkscreening, prompting Warhol to call Malanga back.[21] After completing a painting of Dominique T., Malanga shifted his focus to editing the College Rental Service for Warhol's films and managing bookings.[21] In 1969, Malanga managed the "Andy Warhol Theater: Boys to Adore Galore" under his company, Poetry on Film.[20] The theater showed male pornographic films for six weeks.[20] He hired Jim Carroll to work in the box office and fellow Warhol superstar Joe Dallesandro as the projectionist.[22] Later that year, Malanga became a founding editor of Warhol's Interview magazine, a role he kept until he left the Factory in 1970.[22]

In the 1970s, more fake Warhol screen prints appeared in Europe, and Warhol suspected they were made by Malanga.[23] Malanga denied that he had done them, but this created a strain in their relationship.[24] In a December 1976 diary entry, Warhol said: "Ran into Gerard Malanga. Gerard wrote to Fred asking why he wouldn't let him do photography for Interview, I guess he just wants a press pass. Fred won't have anything to do with Gerard because we're still getting repercussions from all the fake Electric Chairs we think he did, they're being resold and resold and each time the money involved gets bigger, so Fred isn't about to give Gerard anything."[25]

Poetry and photography career

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By the time Malanga left Warhol's Factory to pursue photography in 1970, he had already written numerous poetry books.[26] Malanga does not view photography as a substitute for poetry but as a complementary practice, describing his portraits as "poetry on film."[27] He characterized poetry as an introspective, solitary act and photography as outward-facing and immediate; together, they formed his distinctive mode of self-expression.[28] This relationship occasionally intersected in his writing, where poems reflect photographic processes, though his photographs themselves resist literary interpretation, with narrative reserved for poetry.[28] Nearly all major poetry magazines published his work.[27]

His career in photography began in 1969 when The Paris Review commissioned him to interview poet Charles Olson.[28] As the magazine paired interviews with portraits, Malanga photographed Olson himself; the resulting image was widely acclaimed and marked the start of his photographic practice. Largely self-taught and working intuitively, he went on to build an extensive archive of portraits, photographing figures such as Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Patti Smith, Duke Ellington, Jasper Johns, and Tennessee Williams.[26][29]

In 1973, the University of Wisconsin–Parkside Library hosted a touring exhibition of 110 of his portraits.[27] In 1975, Malanga presented a reading of his poetry and screened his film April Diary at the Sears Harkness Theater in Binghamton, New York.[30]

Malanga in 2007

In 1985, Henry J. Stern, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, appointed Malanga as the first photo archivist for the department.[31] He was responsible for cataloguing and conserving the historic negative collection of Robert Moses.[31]

In his introduction to Malanga's first monograph, Resistance to Memory (Arena Editions, 1998), Ben Maddow, a photo historian and poet, said, "Malanga has that great essential virtue of the photographer: humility before the complex splendor of the real thing...Malanga is the photo-historian of this culture."[_citation needed_]

In reviewing Malanga's book Screen Tests Portraits Nudes 1964-1996 (Steidl, 2000), photographer Fred W. McDarrah remarked that "Malanga is among the elite editors and photographers who have long dazzled and propelled the New York avant-garde."[_citation needed_]

In 2010, Malanga presented an exhibition titled Souls at the Pierre Menard Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[32] Reflecting on the work, he said, "Each one has a story to tell: not just about the time we spent together while I was clicking away, but about themselves – they have revealed their souls and that's how I hit upon the idea to call the series, Souls."[33]

In 2023, Malanga's photographs were the subject of an exhibition, Gerard Malanga // Moments in Time :: 1965–2023, at Beatie-Powers Place in Catskill, New York.[34]

Malanga has also been active as a public speaker, appearing at universities, art centers, and museums to present his film Gerard Malanga's Film Notebooks and read from his latest poetry.[35]

In 2024, Gerard was named a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.[4]

Photo and written biographies

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  1. ^ "Gerard Malanga's Journey From Andy Warhol's Stage Dancer To Factory Poet". The Huffington Post. August 4, 2010.
  2. ^ "History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places - Smithsonian". Archived from the original on May 12, 2013. Retrieved May 27, 2012.
  3. ^ "Gerard Malanga". All Tomorrow's Parties.
  4. ^ a b "Gerard malanga elected chevalier of arts & letters in france". who's love love?. March 5, 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Shengold, Nina (May 1, 2015). "After the Factory: Chasing Gerard Malanga". Chronogram.
  6. ^ ""Gerard Malanga - David R. Godine, Publisher"". Archived from the original on April 11, 2020. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
  7. ^ a b "Gerard Malanga: "Still, Image"". The Yale Review. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  8. ^ a b c Fressola, Michael J. (September 11, 1987). "'Walking Myth' Talks" Life With, After Warhol". Staten Island Advance. pp. c1. Retrieved April 18, 2026.
  9. ^ "History of Art: History of Photography".
  10. ^ "Wagner College to Present Five Prize-Winning Films". Staten Island Advance. October 13, 1962. p. 11. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  11. ^ Watson, Steven (1988). Introduction to "The Young and Evil" by Ford, Charles Henri and Tyler, Parker. New York: Sea Horse Press: Gay Presses of New York. pp. xxviii. ISBN 0-914017-15-2.{{[cite book](/wiki/Template:Cite%5Fbook "Template:Cite book")}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  12. ^ Watson, Steven (October 1, 2003). Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties (1 ed.). Pantheon. pp. 282–283. ISBN 0-679-42372-9.
  13. ^ Eckardt, Steph (March 16, 2018). "Take a Trip Back to 1960s New York With Andy Warhol, Nico, and More of the So-Called Chelsea Girls". W Magazine. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  14. ^ Nelson, Susan (June 24, 1966). "Pop Revue—Way Out? Very In?". Chicago Tribune. pp. Page 14 Section 2. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  15. ^ Jäger, Ludwig; Linz, Erika; Schneider, Irmela (March 15, 2014). Media, Culture, and Mediality: New Insights into the Current State of Research. transcript Verlag. p. 445. ISBN 978-3-8394-1376-0.
  16. ^ Willett, Edward (December 15, 2017). Andy Warhol: Fighting to Revolutionize Art. Enslow Publishing, LLC. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-7660-9548-9.
  17. ^ Murphy, J. J. (March 4, 2012). The Black Hole of the Camera: The Films of Andy Warhol. University of California Press. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-520-27187-6.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wrbican, Matt; Gopnik, Blake; Printz, Neil (January 1, 2019). A is for Archive: Warhol's World from A to Z. Yale University Press. p. 216. ISBN 978-0-300-23344-5.
  19. ^ Jones, Caroline A. (1996). Machine in the Studio: Constructing the Postwar American Artist. University of Chicago Press. p. 250. ISBN 978-0-226-40649-7.
  20. ^ a b c Bockris, Victor (1997). Warhol. New York: Da Capo Press. pp. 285, 325. ISBN 978-0-306-80795-4.
  21. ^ a b "The Gerard Malanga Interview". PlanetGroupEntertainment.
  22. ^ a b Nevins, Jake (May 9, 2025). "Founding Editor Gerard Malanga Takes Us Back to the Early Days of Interview". Interview Magazine. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
  23. ^ Warhol, Andy; Hackett, Pat (1989). "Entry date: June 11, 1978". The Andy Warhol Diaries. New York, NY: Warner Books. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-446-51426-2.
  24. ^ Warhol, Andy; Hackett, Pat (1989). "Entry date: May 6, 1978". The Andy Warhol Diaries. New York, NY: Warner Books. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-446-51426-2.
  25. ^ Warhol, Andy; Hackett, Pat (1989). "Entry date: December 1, 1976". The Andy Warhol Diaries. New York, NY: Warner Books. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-446-51426-2.
  26. ^ a b Bishton, Derek (April 8, 2000). "Archivist of the Avante-Garde". The Daily Telegraph. pp. A7. Retrieved April 18, 2026.
  27. ^ a b c "By Gerard Malanga: Photo portraits displayed". Kenosha News. Kenosha, Wisconsin. March 13, 1973. p. 7.
  28. ^ a b c Wehrli, Peter (June 1980). "Gerard Malanga". Camera. 59 (6): 12.
  29. ^ Michael, Limnios (February 12, 2013). "An Interview with Gerard Malanga, poet, photographer & filmmaker who has received worldwide recognition". blues.gr. Retrieved April 18, 2026.
  30. ^ Handte, Jerry (April 12, 1975). "Film Diary Captures Poet's Visual Images". The Evening Press. Binghamton, New York. p. 3.
  31. ^ a b "CITY'S POETRY CAPTURED IN DUSTY VIEWS". The New York Times. July 8, 1986. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  32. ^ Giuliano, Charles; Malanga, Gerard (March 30, 2010). "Gerard Malanga at Pierre Menard Gallery - Gerard Malanga and Charles Giuliano - Berkshir". berkshirefinearts.com. Retrieved April 18, 2026.
  33. ^ Dazed (September 8, 2010). "Gerard Malanga's Beautiful Soul". Dazed. Retrieved April 18, 2026.
  34. ^ Heller, Steven (October 31, 2023). "The Daily Heller: Gerard Malanga's Iconic Photographs Thrill the Eye". PRINT Magazine. Retrieved April 18, 2026.
  35. ^ "Artist Talk: Gerard Malanga - 4/4/19". Buffalo AKG Art Museum. Retrieved April 18, 2026.
  36. ^ a b c "Gerard Malanga | Poetry Foundation". June 3, 2023.
  37. ^ Vallejo, César (2014). Malanga Chasing Vallejo: Selected Poems: César Vallejo: New Translations and Notes: Gerard Malanga: César Vallejo, Gerard Malanga: 9780989512572: Amazon.com: Books. Three Rooms Press. ISBN 978-0989512572.
  38. ^ "Gerard Malanga".