Billy Name

Billy Name

Billy Name
Born William Linich, Jr.
(1940-02-22) February 22, 1940
Poughkeepsie, New York, U.S.
Nationality American
Known for photographer, filmmaker, lighting designer, archivist

Billy Name, (born William Linich, Jr., February 22, 1940 in Poughkeepsie, New York), is an American photographer, filmmaker and lighting designer. He was the archivist of the Warhol Factory, from 1964 to 1970.[1][2] His brief romance and subsequent friendship with Andy Warhol led to substantial collaboration on Warhol's work, including his films, paintings and sculpture. Linich became Billy Name among the coterie known as the Warhol Superstars. He was responsible for "silverizing" Warhol's New York studio, the Factory,[3] where he lived until 1970. His photographs of the scene at the Warhol Factory and of Warhol himself are important documents of the Pop art era.

In 2001, the United States Postal Service used one of Billy Name's portraits of Warhol when it issued a commemorative stamp of the artist.[4] Name also has collaborated with Shepard Fairey with his photograph of Nico, singer with the Velvet Underground and part of the social circle of Warhol's Factory. He photographed the covers to White Light/White Heat and the third album as well as the photographs in the gatefold sleeve to The Velvet Underground and Nico in tandem with fellow Warhol associate Nat Finkelstein.

Career in theater

Prior to his association with Warhol, Name had worked in theatrical lighting design. Name began his career as a lighting designer in the theater in 1960, while working as a waiter at Serendipity 3.[5] His first apprenticeship was with Nick Cernovich, who had won an Obie Award for best lighting. "It was the end of the period of the romantic avant-garde bohemia, when artists kept younger artists and a male artist would always have a young man around." Under the tutelage of Cernovich, he co-designed the lighting for the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds in 1960. Name later designed lighting at Judson Memorial Church, New York Poets Theater and the Living Theater, illuminating the likes of dancers Lucinda Childs, Yvonne Rainer, Merce Cunningham and Fred Herko.

Name significantly influenced Warhol's work. As Warhol would later explain: "[He] had a manner that inspired confidence. He gave the impression of being generally creative, he dabbled in lights and papers and artists materials...I picked up a lot from Billy." (Warhol & Hackett,The Warhol Diaries)

Name also played music in the group Theatre of Eternal Music under the direction of La Monte Young.[6]

Collaboration with Andy Warhol

Name was responsible for taking still photographs at the Factory.[7] Indeed, Name lived and worked at the Factory, having taken up residence in a closet at the back of the studio, at 231 East 47th Street. With the gift of Warhol's 35 mm single-lens reflex Honeywell Pentax camera, along with its operating manual, Name taught himself the technical aspects of photography. He converted one of the Factory bathrooms into a darkroom, where he mastered methods of processing and developing film. These newly acquired skills, combined with his background in lighting and experimental approach to his work, resulted in a body of work which captured the "silver years" at the Factory (1963–70).

Name's close friendship with Warhol - and his role in creating Warhol's artistic environment - provided him with a unique perspective of the Factory, with a particular focus on a core group of "superstars", who largely improvised before the camera. Name's understanding of theater and lighting was an important influence on the look and ambience of the Factory and of Warhol's early films.

Quotations of Name

Quotations about Name

Billy Name is the "Billy" in the Velvet Underground's song "The Story Of My Life," written by Lou Reed (1969).

He is mentioned in Lloyd Cole's song "Cut Me Down", "I've been Billy Name and filled my pockets with sand" "Andy - I am not here anymore but I am fine. Love, Billy"

He is also mentioned by name in two songs to or about Andy Warhol, "Hello It's Me" and "Slip Away (A Warning)" from Songs for Drella, the album on which Reed and John Cale collaborated.

Present life

As of 2010, Name resides in his native Poughkeepsie, New York.[10]

Bibliography

Collective exhibition

References

  1. ↑ Kennedy, Randy (January 8, 2010). "In Search of an Archive of Warhol’s Era". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
  2. ↑ Celebrity Portraits from the Warhol Factory Years, exhibition and catalog from the Irvine Contemporary gallery, Washington, DC.
  3. ↑ Steven Watson, Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties (2003) Pantheon, New York, p. 123
  4. ↑ "Billy Name's portrait of Warhol as US postage stamp". Thewaverlypress.com. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  5. ↑ Steve Watson, Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties (Pantheon Books, 2003).
  6. ↑ Scherman, Tony & Dalton, David, POP: The Genius of Andy Warhol, HarperCollins, New York, N.Y. 2009, p. 188
  7. ↑ Steven Watson, Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties (2003) Pantheon, New York, pp. 356-357 & 372-373
  8. 1 2 3 Factory Made: Warhold and the Sixties, Steve Watson, Pantheon Books (2003)
  9. ↑ Making the Scene: Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties by Steven Watson, Dennis Drabelle, Washington Post book review, November 16, 2003.
  10. ↑ "In Search of an Archive of Warhol’s Era". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-06-27.

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