Paige Powell moved to New York determined to work for Interview magazine or Woody Allen, the ambitious arts graduate secured positions with both in less than a month. Powell was quickly accepted into Andy Warhol’s inner circle and became Associate Publisher at Interview, where she was a contributing photographer and writer and by 1983 she was dating Jean-Michel Basquiat who had formed a fast friendship with Warhol. “We went over to Jean-Michel’s loft on Crosby Street and I remember getting off the elevator and Jean-Michel walking right into me like a magnet. We started talking about the show I was planning and he got really excited.” More than twenty years after that first meeting, Powell is revisiting her relationship with Basquiat and sharing her shots of the artist in the exhibition, “Jean-Michel Basquiat, Reclining Nude”. Taken with her 35mm Canon, the archive was catalogued by Pink Martini musician, Thomas Lauderdale who Powell credits with making the show a reality. “The entirety of my archival materials would still be boxed up in cabinets if it weren’t for him.” After the opening, there was a fun dinner with Powell’s pals and everyone participated in musical interludes, with accompaniment by Thomas Lauderdale. “Jean-Michel Basquiat, Reclining Nude” runs through February 22 at the Suzanne Geiss Company.
Paige Powell by Patrick McMullen at "Jean-Michel Basquiat; Reclining Nude" at Suzanne Geiss Company
Top, left, Rufus Wainwright, Justin Vivian Bond and Paige Powell sing “Sixteen Going on Seventeen”; Glen O’Brien and Patrick McMullen do “Danny Boy”; Gus Van Sant tries “Moon River”; Susanne Bartsch and Lauderdale went with “Falling In Love Again”; David LaChapelle sang “Fly Me To the Moon; Mr. Mickey finishes with “There’s No Business Like Show Business”