“Oh, Billy was the anchor, the unifying force, the maitre d', the bouncer of the place,” says Glenn O'Brien, a former member of Warhol's circle says. “He also ran the Factory, and he lived there - in a closet - which is why his pictures have that fly-on-the-wall quality.”
Born William Lynch in 1940, Name influenced the artist in unlikely ways. He had covered his previous apartment with aluminium foil as he couldn't afford wallpaper, but Warhol, who could afford wallpaper, loved the effect and requested he “silverise” the Factory too. The book features the shimmering results alongside many images of the artist at work (with his Brillo and Campbell Boxes), with his muses (Nico and Edie Sedgwick), and intimate portraits of friends, including Lou Reed.
“Andy said that nobody could capture the atmosphere quite like Billy's photographs,” Glenn O'Brien says. “I think that's true. They are beautifully controlled: the quality, the contrast, the grain - all a perfect evocation of that world at that time."