Pat Hackett, an American writer and editor, and the long-time confidante, co-author and diarist of Andy Warhol, was frequently the recipient of gifts from the artist. Recently, she opened an unassuming three-ring binder in her New York apartment and discovered 83 unpublished photographs by Andy Warhol.
In 1987, prior to his death and around the time of his only photography show during his lifetime, Warhol actually gifted her a trove of unique 8” x 10” Silver Gelatin Prints made with his 35mm camera. The group includes some of Warhol’s most iconic subjects and friends – formal portraits, candid shots from parties and nightclubs, as well as still-life images with a singular Warholian perspective. The photographs, who had not left Pat Hackett’s home since, show Muhammad Ali, Mick Jagger, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Grace Jones, Jim Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Warhol’s two pet dachshunds, Archie and Amos, seated with Lou Reed.
“Oddly, as much as Andy is known as ‘the master colorist,’ there is a whole powerful, primitive area of his work that was exclusively black and white,” says Pat Hackett, who also co-wrote the screenplay for BAD, Warhol’s cult movie and contributed regularly to Interview Magazine. “And silver, which is part of the same thing. To me, the thinking Andy, as opposed to the painting Andy, was always black & white. Just witness his early films and the whole Factory of Billy Name Fotos. Who would prefer to see Edie Sedgwick in color when they could have her (Star Quality intact!) in mysterious, glorious black & white?”
After several decades sleeping in Pat Hackett’s apartment, the images are now on view at Hedges Projects in Los Angeles and also illustrate Andy Warhol’s latest passion. “Andy was doing so much photographing in the years right before he died, and talking about having more and more shows of this new work in galleries and museums,” she says. “You could see how much it excited him. His whole view of the world and of art had always been that reality could not be improved upon. Yes, it could be tinkered with and touched up – re-presented in all sorts of ways – but he profoundly felt that real life could never be improved upon. That view made photography a natural next big step in his evolution as an artist.”
Through Andy’s Lens : Never before seen works from the collection of Pat Hackett
Show is by appointment from May 3 until July 1st, 2018.
Hedges Projects
2120 Outpost Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90068
USA
