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Art

London,

Nat Finkelstein: The Factory - Andy Warhol And Friends

Description: Photographs of the American pop artist's studio in the mid-1960s.



Rating: 5 out of 5 Sue Steward's rating
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Redbridge Museum Clements Road, IG1 1EA

Phone: 0208708 2317

Website: www.redbridge.gov.uk/cms/leisure_and_libraries/culture/redbridge_museum.aspx

Email: redbridge.museum@redbridge.gov.uk

Powerful portrayal of Sixties icons

The Factory: Andy Warhol and Friends
Factory workers: (from left) Warhol, film-maker Barbara Rubin and Bob Dylan

By Sue Steward
29 Mar 2007


In 1964, the ex-Harper's Bazaar photographer Nat Finkelstein bowled up at Andy Warhol's Factory to shoot a documentary. Three years later, he reeled out with a unique archive of images of the artists and musicians who defined the 1960s.

Taking candid portraits of such narcissistic subjects required the stealth of a cat, but Warhol's own ubiquitous camera probably made invisibility easier.

Redferns' exhibition includes both portraits and, unusually, people at work: the Velvet Underground setting up equipment, Warhol arranging helium balloons for a party, reading in a chair - a scene reproduced in the recent Edie Sedgwick biopic Factory Girl, for which Finkelstein was a consultant.

Dominating the room are Warhol's shades and thatch, Bob Dylan's skinny suits and cigarettes and Sedgwick's innocent beauty.

Following the movie, she is the star attraction and is captured in perfectly textured close-ups and profiles (Finkelstein's favoured pose), her innocence still intact.

The "crutch shot" in a crumpled lamé shift is a startling contrast to the show's other work. Finkelstein captures beautifully but never penetrates the cool elegance and intelligence of the Velvets' singer, Nico, or the iconic, frozen conversation between Warhol and Dylan (in profile), who are separated by a huge silkscreen of Elvis Presley pointing a gun at his camera.

The lasting power of these images relies on meticulous printing appropriate to Warhol's perfectionism. They commemorate the many characters described by the photographer: "Some guests left in limousines, some in ambulances, others never found the door."

Until 12 May. Information: 020 7792 9914, www.redferns.com

Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.

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