Andy Warhol by Christopher Makos

Rating:
Summary: Wow, who is this guy kidding? Avoid this stinker now!!
Review: Beware! This book is really, truly a mediocrity. It pains me to say this because I am just fascinated by the whole Andy Warhol thing. In fact, I have picked this book up a number of times in the past year or two always hoping to find something about it that I have missed, but I haven't. Let's face it, there is a whole slew of books out there by people hoping to cash in on the Warhol phenomenon and I don't blame them. If I had been caught up in that mileu I would too. If you know anything about the many people who revolved around the Warhol sun, you'll expect the work product from this motley crew to be uneven. Some of it will be good, even really, really good. Lots of it is rubbish too. This book falls into the latter category. Makos himself is a character who came upon the scene late, late into the third reel, long after Andy had dispensed with artistic genius for the comfort of middle-aged complacence. I mean to say that at the time these snaps were taken Warhol had long gone from the celebration of the banal to banal celebration. This book is a compilation of portraits and headshots of Andy in varying states of make-up, dress, undress and drag. There is nothing particularly compelling about these images; although a fair number of them are quite disturbing, as none of them appear to flatter their subject (unlike some of the phots by Nat Finkelstein in his recent book Andy Warhol: Nat Finkelstein where Nat manages to make Andy look almost beautiful now and again). Christopher Makos claimed to be a photographer, yet most of the chroniclers of the Warhol scene who knew him had less kind descriptive terms for the fellow. I don't know him and so can't comment upon his person or his character. As to the photos in this book, however, I can say with conviction that they not only do not add much of anything to the Andy Warhol codex they don't say anything of particular interest about the man. Makos' only claim to fame that I know of is his association with Andy Warhol. While this is good enough for someone from Andy's 1960's or 1970's persona, it is a damning thing to say about anyone from the 1980's when Celebrity had long since eclipsed Superstar in the Andy Warhol lexicon.

Rating:
Summary: Wow, who is this guy kidding? Avoid this stinker now!!
Review: Beware! This book is really, truly a mediocrity. It pains me to say this because I am just fascinated by the whole Andy Warhol thing. In fact, I have picked this book up a number of times in the past year or two always hoping to find something about it that I have missed, but I haven't. Let's face it, there is a whole slew of books out there by people hoping to cash in on the Warhol phenomenon and I don't blame them. If I had been caught up in that mileu I would too. If you know anything about the many people who revolved around the Warhol sun, you'll expect the work product from this motley crew to be uneven. Some of it will be good, even really, really good. Lots of it is rubbish too. This book falls into the latter category. Makos himself is a character who came upon the scene late, late into the third reel, long after Andy had dispensed with artistic genius for the comfort of middle-aged complacence. I mean to say that at the time these snaps were taken Warhol had long gone from the celebration of the banal to banal celebration. This book is a compilation of portraits and headshots of Andy in varying states of make-up, dress, undress and drag. There is nothing particularly compelling about these images; although a fair number of them are quite disturbing, as none of them appear to flatter their subject (unlike some of the phots by Nat Finkelstein in his recent book Andy Warhol: Nat Finkelstein where Nat manages to make Andy look almost beautiful now and again). Christopher Makos claimed to be a photographer, yet most of the chroniclers of the Warhol scene who knew him had less kind descriptive terms for the fellow. I don't know him and so can't comment upon his person or his character. As to the photos in this book, however, I can say with conviction that they not only do not add much of anything to the Andy Warhol codex they don't say anything of particular interest about the man. Makos' only claim to fame that I know of is his association with Andy Warhol. While this is good enough for someone from Andy's 1960's or 1970's persona, it is a damning thing to say about anyone from the 1980's when Celebrity had long since eclipsed Superstar in the Andy Warhol lexicon.

Rating:
Summary: Makos' Lens and Warhol's Lipstick
Review: During a collaborative art-project in the early 1980s, Christopher Makos, a brilliant artist in his own right, transformed the Pop artist Andy Warhol into a bi-gendered diva. Always on the cutting edge, and documenting the... subcultures of NYC and beyond, Makos brilliantly captures Warhol's other persona... anti-normative persona -- it is important to note that Warhol often requested interviewers and the like to call him *Ms. Andy Warhol* -- which is materialized in these photographs.
This Makos/Warhol collaborative art-project, entitled _Altered Images_, is also a wonderful homage and extension of the 1920s Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp collaboration, entitled _Rrose Selavy_, in which Duchamp performed himself as beautiful bourgeois woman in front of Man Ray's camera.
From Makos' black and white photographs to his black and white contact sheets, with slashes of color that both frame and un-frame Warhol in his gloriously outrageous poses, wigs, and makeup, this new art book by Makos is a must have for anyone and everyone interested in the art of Makos, the image of Warhol, and the collaboration of artists -- especially two important and influential artists such as Makos and Warhol. Indeed, this art book will expand our current collective image and general understanding of Warhol and his many personas. We can only thank Makos for producing such important, brilliant, and engaging photographs. - Robert