One of the most important witnesses of the Warhol era has just passed – photographer Billy Name, who is famous for giving Andy Warhol’s loft the complete silver look. The mother of all studios was known among insiders as the Silver Factory.
In the new Warhol book 'Warhol: Factory' by photographer Stephen Shore which was recently released, Billy Name himself speaks about what went on there: “Andy and I were hanging around together. I had an apartment on the Lower East Side, where I had haircutting salons. Hundreds of people would come, and I’d be cutting someone’s hair. Andy came. When he first started making films, he made films about what a person was famous for,” Billy, whose real name was William Linich Jr., recalled. “I was famous for giving haircuts, so he said, “Would you let me do a film of you doing haircuts?” [Haircut, 1963] I had covered my entire apartment in silver foil and painted everything silver. Andy said, “Well, I just got a new loft [the Factory]; would you do to it what you’ve done to your apartment?” I said, “Oh, sure, let’s do it.” So, I started doing it. I was a technician – I’d been a light designer for [Manhattan dance theatre] the Judson Church. I also worked for some off-Broadway theater and avant-garde dance companies. I installed all the lighting at the Factory, all the sound systems.”
Out of gratitude for the make-over of the loft, Warhol gave Billy Name a role in the Factory family: “I was into light and sound before, but not photography,” says Billy and explains: “Andy had a still camera, but he had gotten the Bolex. He was going to start to do films, and he gave me the Pentax and said, “Here, Billy, you do the still photography; I’m going to start making films.” I became the in-house photographer and was sort of like the foreman. Eventually, I moved in.”
More on Billy, Andy and the Factory as well as lots of wonderful photos by Stephen Shore can be seen in the book.
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