Gerard Joseph Malanga (born March 20, 1943) is an American poet, photographer, filmmaker, actor, curator, and archivist.

Malanga worked for pop artist Andy Warhol from 1963 to 1970. The New York Times referred to him as "Andy Warhol's most important associate." He began as Warhol's studio assistant, helping him with the silkscreening of his paintings. Later, he was appointed as a founding editor of Warhol's Interview magazine. As a Warhol superstar, he also appeared in a number of underground films.

His photography spans over four decades and includes portraits, nudes, and the urban documentation of "New York's Changing Scene." Malanga, who is primarily a poet, considered his portraits to be "poetry on film." He has directed several films and written books.

In 2024, Malanga was elected as a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.

Early life and education

Malanga was born on March 20, 1943, in the Bronx, a borough of New York City, and raised on Fordham Road. He was the only child of Italian immigrant parents. His father, Gerardo Malanga, was a dry goods salesman.

By his senior year, Malanga was interested in becoming a poet, but he was also studying graphic design and advertising at the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan. In 1960, he graduated from high school with a major in Advertising Design. After graduating, Malanga enrolled at the University of Cincinnati's' College of Art & Design but flunked out within a year. He subsequently met Wagner College professor Willard Maas, whose Brooklyn Heights apartment served as a literary salon. He also made friends with Saul Bellow and Robert Lowell.

Career

Andy Warhol and the Factory

thumb|Gerard Malanga featured with the Velvet Underground in the May 28, 1966, issue of [[KRLA Beat]]

In 1963, Malanga was looking for a summer job when poet Charles Henri Ford introduced him pop artist Andy Warhol. Malanga had previously silkscreened fabrics for a necktie designer, and Warhol needed assistance with silkscreening. After introducing her to Warhol, she was given the new moniker International Velvet. Malanga and Bottomly costarred in the film Chelsea Girls (1966).

In 1966, Malanga choreographed a dance for Warhol's multimedia presentation, The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, featuring musical performances by the Velvet Underground and Nico.

Malanga and Warhol collaborated on the nearly 500 individual 3-minute Screen Tests, which resulted in a selection for a book of the same name, published by Kulchur Press, in 1967. He co-produced Bufferin (1967), in which he reads his poetry and diaries. It is deemed to be the longest spoken-word movie on record at 33-minutes nonstop.

In 1967, Malanga went to Italy to show his film In Search Of The Miraculous at the Bergamo Film Festival. While visiting friends in Rome, he ran out of money and reached out to Warhol for financial assistance.

thumb|Malanga (hanging on the wall) with [[Andy Warhol, who is holding a leash, and members of the Factory: Candy Darling against the wall, Brigid Berlin and Geraldine Smith on leashes, Jed Johnson holding a camera, and Ingrid Superstar leashed to the wall. Photo by Claude Picasso for Esquire, 1969]]

Upon returning to New York, Malanga apologized to Warhol for the forgeries and resumed work at the Factory after Warhol survived an assassination attempt in June 1968. During his absence, Warhol had asked his boyfriend Jed Johnson to take over as his assistant, but Johnson did not like the hands-on, messy work of silkscreening, prompting Warhol to call Malanga back. After completing a painting of Dominique T., Malanga shifted his focus to editing the College Rental Service for Warhol's films and managing bookings. Later that year, Malanga became a founding editor of Warhol's Interview magazine, a role he kept until he left the Factory in 1970. Malanga denied that he had done them, but this created a strain in their relationship. In a December 1976 diary entry, Warhol said: "Ran into Gerard Malanga. Gerard wrote to Fred asking why he wouldn't let him do photography for Interview, I guess he just wants a press pass. Fred won't have anything to do with Gerard because we're still getting repercussions from all the fake Electric Chairs we think he did, they're being resold and resold and each time the money involved gets bigger, so Fred isn't about to give Gerard anything."

Poetry and photography career

By the time Malanga left Warhol's Factory to pursue photography in 1970, he had already written numerous poetry books. Malanga does not view photography as a substitute for poetry but as a complementary practice, describing his portraits as "poetry on film." He characterized poetry as an introspective, solitary act and photography as outward-facing and immediate; together, they formed his distinctive mode of self-expression. This relationship occasionally intersected in his writing, where poems reflect photographic processes, though his photographs themselves resist literary interpretation, with narrative reserved for poetry.

In 1973, the University of Wisconsin–Parkside Library hosted a touring exhibition of 110 of his portraits.thumb|Malanga in 2007

In 1985, Henry J. Stern, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, appointed Malanga as the first photo archivist for the department. He was responsible for cataloguing and conserving the historic negative collection of Robert Moses. Reflecting on the work, he said, "Each one has a story to tell: not just about the time we spent together while I was clicking away, but about themselves – they have revealed their souls and that's how I hit upon the idea to call the series, Souls."

In 2023, Malanga's photographs were the subject of an exhibition, Gerard Malanga // Moments in Time :: 1965–2023, at Beatie-Powers Place in Catskill, New York.

Malanga has also been active as a public speaker, appearing at universities, art centers, and museums to present his film Gerard Malanga's Film Notebooks and read from his latest poetry.

Awards and honors

In 2024, Gerard was named a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.

  • Wheels of Light (1972)
  • Nine Poems for César Vallejo (1972)
  • The Poetry of Night, Dawn and Dream/Nine Poems for César Vallejo (1972)
  • Licht/Light (1973, bilingual)
  • Incarnations: Poems 1965-1971 (1974)
  • Rosebud (1975)
  • Leaping Over Gravestones (1976)
  • Ten Years After: The Selected Benedetta Poems (1977)
  • 100 years have passed (1978)
  • This Will Kill That (1983)
  • Three Diamonds Black Sparrow Press (1991)
  • Mythologies of the Heart, Black Sparrow Press (1996)
  • No Respect: New & Selected Poems 1964-2000, Black Sparrow Press (2001)
  • AM: Archives Malanga, Volumes 1, 2, 3 & 4 (2011)
  • Three Broadside Poems, Bottle of Smoke Press (2013)
  • Malanga Chasing Vallejo: Selected Poems: Cesar Vallejo: New Translations and Notes: Gerard Malanga. Three Rooms Press, Bilingual edition (2014)
  • Tomboy & Other Tales, Bottle of Smoke Press (2014)
  • Whisper Sweet Nothings & Other Poems, Bottle of Smoke Press (2017)
  • Cool & Other Poems, Bottle of Smoke Press (2019)
  • The New Melancholia & Other Poems, Bottle of Smoke Press (2021)
  • Odie is Being Called Back & Other Poems, Bottle of Smoke Press (2024)

Editor

  • The Brief Hidden Life of Angus MacLise
  • The Collected Poetry of Piero Heliczer

Photography

  • Six Portraits (1975)
  • Portrait: Theory (With Robert Mapplethorpe, David Attie, and others) (1981)
  • Autobiography of a Sex Thief (1985)
  • Good Girls (1994)