Fred Herko
Between 1964 and 1966, Andy Warhol shot nearly 500 Screen Tests, beautiful and revealing portraits of hundreds of different individuals, from Warhol superstars and celebrities to friends or anyone he thought had "star potential". All visitors to his studio, the Factory. Subjects were captured in stark relief by a strong keylight, and filmed by Warhol with his stationary 16mm Bolex camera on silent, black and white, 100-foot rolls of film. The resulting two-and-a-half-minute film reels were then screened in slow motion, resulting in a fascinating collection of four-minute masterpieces that startle and entrance, mesmerizing in the purest sense of the word. Songwriters Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips, formerly of the band Luna and currently recording as Dean & Britta, incorporated original compositions as well as cover songs to create new soundtracks for the 13 films.
The films were made between 1964 and 1966 at Warhol's Factory studio in New York City. Subjects were captured in stark relief by a strong key light, and filmed by Warhol with his stationary 16mm Bolex camera on silent, black and white, 100-foot rolls of film at 24 frames per second. The resulting two-and-a-half-minute film reels were then screened in 'slow motion' at 16 frames per second.
1964 screen test of Herko running 4 minutes, 36 seconds in length.
Shot in slow motion, with tiny bits of stagy lighting that seem to crumble and flake like cookies, Billy Name gives one of his notorious haircuts--and Warhol turns it into a homoerotic performance, a dance of adoration and control, a triangle of looking and keeping-at-bay, that is a slightly dullish but finally essential contribution to Warhol's long project of bringing portraiture technologies to moviemaking.
Inspired by a 1962 NYPD pamphlet entitled ‘The Thirteen Most Wanted [Men]’. Warhol transformed it from ‘most wanted men’ into ‘most beautiful boys’, and then began to film the very first Screen Tests, continuing to film for the series into early 1966, totalling more than 13 Screen Tests.
Against a backdrop of the Manhattan skyline, Judson Dance Theater company member Freddy Herko and author and cultural critic Jill Johnston dance together on Wynn Chamberlain’s rooftop.
