Love Love’s own mentor and main collaborator Gerard Malanga is a Warhol Superstar, legendary photographer, poet and pop art icon. This year we get to celebrate his long shining star particularly, since Gerard, through The Republic of France by an Order of Decree by the Ministry, has been elected Chevalier of Arts & Letters! 

Other international artists who have received this honorable merit in modern day include Gerard’s old friends Patti Smith and Bob Dylan, and great artists such as Umberto Eco, Paul McCartney, Marlene Dietrich, Josephine Baker, Bette Davis, Ang Lee, David Lynch, Graham Greene, Elton John and Max von Sydow.

Gerard shares with Love Love that he is very happy and proud to have been given this merit by France in acknowledgement and celebration of his life’s work.

The ceremony has not yet taken place & Love Love hopes to soon see Gerard in Paris to receive his medallion by a fellow chevalier of the order.

More about Gerard, his life’s work and his connection to France:

Gerard Malanga is an American photographer, poet and filmmaker. He was born in the Bronx, New York and began his career as first assistant to Andy Warhol at The Factory in New York in 1963; he was only 20 years old. He was hired in particular because he knew how to screen print and it was he who, with Warhol, printed, during the years 1963-1970, all the emblematic images of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando , Brigitte Bardot and many others. It was also Gerard who took the initiative for the 3-minute “Screen Tests” that Warhol and Malanga filmed for several years at The Factory. Gerard has always been a poet, photographer and filmmaker in his own right, and over the years he has created several films, photographed countless celebrities, performers and artists, conducted interviews and published poetry. With Warhol, he also launched Interview magazine. During his time at The Factory, Gerard met and filmed artists such as Salvador Dalì, Roger Vadim, Jane Fonda, Bob Dylan, Donovan, Edie Sedgwick, Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground (for whom he also danced and choreographed) and even more. He is the “Factory Superstar” who appeared in most of Warhol’s films.

In addition to Gerard’s long career in the United States and his great influence on popular culture through the Warhol years, his life is also imbued with a very deep love for France and in particular for its capital, Paris, which he always comes back to and where he has made friends since a young age. His long-time friend, Patti Smith (herself a Chevalier of Arts and Letters in France), who shares his love of Paris, was photographed by Malanga in their beloved Café de Flore in the 70s in an iconic image. The same goes for Loulou de la Falaise, the muse of Yves Saint Laurent, with whom Gerard was good friends and whom he photographed many times.

Gerard is represented by a gallery in Nice and has participated in numerous exhibitions over the years. His photographic work is a treasure. Gerard is a master portraitist and knows how to capture people at the precise moment that will make them immortal.

Malanga was enormously inspired by French artist Marcel Duchamp from a young age and even today, at the age of 80, he continues to show this artist’s influence in his art.

Have a look through a part of Gerard’s incredible catalogue of photos:

Since 2019, Gerard Malanga has been the artistic mentor and main collaborator of Love Love magazine and it’s editor in chief Lisa Marie Jarlborn. Gerard is an artist who never stopped creating and today, at the age of 80, he writes and publishes new poetry, takes photographs, publishes books, creates exhibitions and offers readings of his poems as well as meetings with the public to answer questions and talk about his life and career. He is an artist who contributed vastly in the shaping of popular culture and who, with Warhol and other contemporaries, was among those who created the very culture in which we live. His tremendous commitment, curiosity and constant creation, across age boundaries, countries and decades, should rightly be celebrated. Congratulations Gerard Malanga on being our own shining knight!

Gerard Malanga’s official website