Billy Name: The Silver Age is a collection of Billy Name’s iconic black and white photographs from Warhol’s Factory. Billy’s images from this period (1964-68) are one of the most important photographic documents of any single artist in history.
Serena Morton II presents Billy Name: The Silver Age this September. Working with Reel Art Press, who published Billy Name: The Silver Age in 2014, the show is produced in collaboration with Billy, and offers an extensive trip through Warhol’s world. Billy photographed the day-to-day happenings at the Factory with Andy, including visits from Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, Nico, Edie Sedgwick and Ivy Nicholson; filming Screen Tests and features like Chelsea Girls, Vinyl and My Hustler.
On January 28, 1964, Warhol’s datebook notes, “New Studio 231 East 47th.” The space, a narrow floorthrough loft overlooking the street from the fourth floor of an industrial building in midtown Manhattan would become, The Silver Factory—a microcosm of the sixties and a focal point of avant-garde history. For Andy Warhol, 1964 would prove to be his watershed year. It was the year that he reinvented himself and shifted his persona from that of a commercial artist to the King of Pop.
After visiting Billy’s apartment on the Lower East Side, Warhol asked him to decorate his new loft. So, for the first six months of the year, living in a tiny closet at the Factory, Billy was responsible for the legendary ‘silverizing’ of the space, covering every square centimetre in either silver foil or silver spray paint. When Andy gave Billy a Pentax Honeywell 35mm camera, he took on the role of resident photographer and archivist.
This body of work begins with photographs documenting the very first months of the Silver Factory in 1964. We see the works Andy made: the Box Sculptures, the Jackies, the Marilyns and the Flowers.
1965 was largely defined by Edie Sedgwick’s presence at the Factory, and then from 1966 the social matrix of the Factory was defined by the activities of the Velvet Underground. Evident in the photographs is the atmosphere of dark glamour that epitomized the Factory during this period and embodied in songs such as “Venus in Furs”, “I’m Waiting for the Man”, “All Tomorrow’s Parties”, and “Heroin.”
These stunning images are one of the most important documents of the Pop Art era. The exhibition will include numbered editions and original one of a kind vintage Factory era prints, complete with Factory stamp.
The Silver Age – Serena Morton II – 30 September to 23 October 2015