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Nat Finkelstein: Pop Art, sex and politics

Posted Jan 8, 2010

Warhol's Factory photographer and much more! London gallery is offering a chance to discover other sides to Nat Finkelstein's work, from the Manhattan misfits to the political activists.

Finkelstein was born in 1964, aged 31, when he Warhol, already a fan of his. Followed three years of full immersion in the fascinating art bordello that was the Factory. The photographs shot during that brief period of time are probably what he is most remembered by. It may have been how it all properly started but Finkelstein had a great vision.

About his time as an observer of the Factory scene: " In retrospect and after a whole lot of living, I look upon the Factory scene like a perpetual carnival in Rio de Janeiro, beautiful girls, pretty boys, music in the air and fucking in the streets, and every once in a while somebody runs in and kills one of the guests.”

While the years spent at the Factory may have to a large extent defined his career there was a lot more to his work than documenting parties gone wild. He was very much involved politically (most notably with the Black Panthers, which eventually led to an errant few years) with a real fascination for what he called the "underbelly": Some of his photographs captured the essence of the times, may it be through intellectuals, demonstrators or a rock band.

 

French artist Marcel Duchamp.

His involvement in popular culture was so great as to manage a band, Khmer Rouge, for which he also directed videos.

Khmer Rouge's "New Assasins".

Punk band Khmer Rouge.

While the shadow of drugs hung over quite a significant few years of his life he shall remain the one that got away, away from the temptations of life as a Factory boy and onto a journey of activism and strong beliefs.

 

"From One Extreme to the Other": London's Idea Generation gallery is presenting a selection of his work starting January 20th 2010.

 

Aurelie Bellavigna

Source:  IG Gallery, NYT

Photo credits: Nat Finkelstein

 

TAGS: nat finkelstein factory andy warhol edie segwick marcel duchamp khmer rouge black panthers

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