Throughout his encounters, Malanga photographed those who came to embody this era: Andy Warhol, William S. Burroughs, Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop, Dennis Hopper, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Robert Mapplethorpe, Candy Darling, and many others. His photographs do not seek to create icons. On the contrary, they seem to bring these figures closer to us, capturing artists in moments of presence, complicity, solitude, or abandon. Perhaps this is where the particular strength of his work lies. Behind the figures who have since become mythical, Malanga reveals people, friends, companions, individuals encountered at a party, a concert, in an apartment, or at a café. His camera becomes a way of preserving a record of these relationships and of this fleeting community.
Gerard Malanga, Mick’s Lips, 1970 - Courtesy of the artist and the gallery
Other visuals
- Gerard Malanga, Dennis Hopper between movies, 1976 -Courtesy of the artist and the gallery