Between 1971 and 1983, Bob Colacello served as editor of Andy Warhol’s Interview Magazine; a physical incarnation of New York City’s cultural renaissance. Often armed with nothing but his miniature Minox 35 EL camera, Colacello became a fixture of Warhol’s New York party scene, documenting some of the most significant figures of the time in their most off-guard moments.
On 03 May, 150 of Colacello’s photographs – many of which have never been exhibited before – will go on show at Vito Schnabel Projects in New York. Encompassing portraits taken in iconic locations including Studio 54 and Regine’s, and featuring portraits of Warhol and other icons, Pictures from Another Time documents a world in the midst of social change: “It was a world where classifications and categories seemed to fall by the wayside,” says Ingrid Sischy, Colacello’s successor at Interview Magazine. “Where black and white, gay and straight, traditional society and new society, uptown and downtown, the powerful and the powerless, and young and old, all danced under the same disco ball.”
Alongside hedonistic images of the New York party scene, are quiet moments that are rarely associated with the era. On display in the exhibition are photographs from a 1976 trip to Bonn, Germany, with Warhol and Fred Hughes, the artist’s business manager and eventual founder of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Arriving in the West German capital to shoot Polaroids with former German Chancellor Willy Brandt, Warhol is seen reclining in his hotel room looking away from the camera. Another photograph from the trip shows Brandt posing for the camera.
Colacello emerges as both a confidante and detached observer of some of the most significant moments in pop culture. Uniquely positioned as Interview Magazine’s editor and a committed documentarian, he was able to create an enduring portrait of this distinctive moment in history.
Pictures from Another Time is on show at Vito Schnabel Projects in New York, between 03 May and 21 June 2019
