Christopher Makos

CHRISTOPHER MAKOS (Lowell, Massachusetts, USA, 1948).
"Billy Beyond."
Photograph.
With stamps on verso. Title on the back.
Measurements: 50 x 40.5 cm; 51 x 41 cm (frame).

Billy Beyond (1963-1996) was an artist, performer, designer and figure of the New York underground scene of the 1980s and early 1990s. He was linked to Andy Warhol's milieu, Club 57, the Pyramid Club and the "club kid" culture. He moved in the same creative circuit as artists such as Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kenny Scharf and Christopher Makos.

Makos knew how to capture the essence of the characters he portrayed, most of them relevant figures of the society of the time such as Truman Capote, Liz Taylor, John Lennon and Mick Jagger. He usually took the pictures in his studio, but giving great prominence to the figures, capturing their essence.

Christopher Makos is remembered, among other things, for being the person who introduced Warhol to the Polaroid universe. He is a legendary figure in New York. Although born in Massachusetts, he grew up in California and then settled in New York City in the 1960s. He went to Europe, to Paris, to study architecture, but contact with Man Ray led him to photography. Back in the United States, he settled in New York, in the West Village. He collaborated closely with Andy Warhol, whom he taught to use his first camera. He also brought Warhol into contact with the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. Warhol called Makos "the most modern photographer in the United States". Makos' close friendship with Warhol and their extensive travels together are reflected in Makos' book Warhol: A Photographic Memoir (New American Library). Makos' works are in the permanent collections of more than one hundred museums, have been exhibited in galleries and museums in the United States, Europe and Japan, and have appeared in numerous publications around the world, including Interview, Rolling Stone, House & Garden, Connoisseur, New York Magazine, Esquire, Genre and People. Some collectors such as Malcolm Forbes, Pedro Almodovar or Gianni Versace own his works.