70s they’re alike the decade in which it all happened. The movements that in one form or another define music, cinema and art to this day were either born in this decade or took the legacy of the 60s to take a decisive step forward.

At the same time, large urban centers were seething. OUR freedom as well as hedonism they went hand in hand with openness. OUR New York it was a meeting place for every prodigal star, restless artist, future celebrity, but also where the “dirty” underground coexisted with all this (what is it even today?). The city where glitter and dust went hand in hand.

There, among such personalities as Debbie Harry, Talking Heads and, above all, about Andy Warhole, was found Christopher Macos along with a camera in hand, the secrets of which he learned in Paris from one of the greatest visionaries of the fine arts of the beginning of the last century: Man Ray.

And he, in turn, took on the important task of becoming a person who he showed Andy Warhol how to use a camera -but also the one who introduced him to his artistic universe Keith Haring and his Jean-Michel Basquiat. And, as always, the rest is history.

Christopher Makos has since been a close associate of Pop Art’s “dad” who made it model, in a series of photographs that showed us how confident Warhol was behind the camera, how shy he was in front of it, experiencing with him the dragging of the photo he took accordingly Man Ray with Marcel Duchamp.

With miles and miles filmed alongside the greatest visionary artist of the 20th century, I ask Christopher Makos on the other end of the video call what the main lesson he learned from Andy Warhol was: “How to Manage Art as a Business”. The photographer observed how the demonic Warhol divided his time between his projects, Interview magazine, Factory and other activities: “It’s two hours for one, two hours for another, two hours for a third, so that you learn to manage your time and make all the money “.

Like everything he did, Warhol himself was not one thing. There was Warhol is an artist, businessman, model, but also a Warhol of nature. His current exhibition is dedicated to the latest Christopher Macos and his Paul Solberg in Pennsylvania “Andy in Nature” who, through photographs of the former, wants to present a more tolerable and accessible Warhol. But I wonder where all these different faces of Warhol met, and I had to wait for Makosh’s answer: “The meeting place is the Factory.” But, of course, what else but his “temple”?

Christopher Makos has just returned to New York from Los Angeles, where he was at the opening of another of his exhibitions. Fringe which showcases his photographs and collages with celebrities and key figures in pop culture. All of them, that is, among which Makos always moved and created.

Each of these faces was brilliant, but some were a little more than others. Christopher Macos has always been impressed by her case Elizabeth Taylor, who photographed in the 80s with a Harley Davidson: “What always amazed me about her is that she was known from the age of 10, she acted in films as a child. And I always thought, what is it like to act in films all your life?

And then, that was it Studio 54. Myth often surpasses reality, but in the case of a club that became synonymous with disco and erotica in the 70s and remembers the living well (the rest are terribly jealous), it seems equal. There was, of course, Makosh, who remembers how freely and equally what happened behind his doors happened: “The good thing about Studio 54 is that there was no social hierarchy, there were celebrities, rich, poor, marginalized. and all coexisted there. In that sense, it was a mythical place.”

Which brings us to the comparison to today, when Macos sees the Big Apple completely changed: “We used to be at Studio 54, now New York meets in restaurants.”

The sentence above says a lot, but the photographer doesn’t stop there. Having lived in a city that was unabashedly libertarian decades earlier than the rest of the world, he eventually finds that the modern understanding of things is filled with many more seals. “It is amazing that young people today have access to all this and information, and yet they cling to labels,” he comments. And he continues: “Now you have to be either “she”, or “they”, or something specific. In the 70s, whether you were straight or gay, you were who you were. I was just Chris Macos, I didn’t need a label.”

We may be living in an era that Makos confirms “Andy Warhol would definitely love” as it has everything he prophesied, but the photographer finds the so-called awakening culture deeply problematic: “I don’t like awakening culture, it’s probably also a form of neoconservatism. I could, for example, tell you: “What a wonderful interview we gave” and pat you on the back, and you would consider this gesture indecent,” he cites as an example to emphasize the exaggerations that often accompany such a social condition. change.

The great thing about Studio 54 is that there was no social hierarchy, there were celebrities, the rich, the poor, the marginalized and all. In that sense, it was a mythical place.

What, after all, is Christopher Makos missing from the 70s? The answer is quite cynical: “What I miss about the 70s is how cheap life was. Now here in New York you go to the supermarket and pay $100 for 3 or 4 things.” Otherwise: “I don’t like to reminisce about the past. However, of course, I like to talk about the past, because it is the basis of today’s “home”.

If you haven’t already guessed by his name, Christopher Makos Greek (but also Italian) origin, something that he thinks he definitely carries with him. Shortly before closing, he tells me how much he would like to have an exhibition in Athens, while trying to remember the name of the creamy dessert he ate in Thessaloniki (spoiler alert: bougatsa).

OUR Man Ray he once said that “I prefer to photograph an idea rather than an object, a dream than an idea.” Christopher Macos may not have heard this phrase from his mentor before, but finds it perfectly acceptable. Yes, “Many people think that when you take a picture of someone, you are just taking a picture, when in reality you are capturing who that person is.” says the photographer, who always wants to get to know the person before clicking the camera.

after all, “With photography, you capture someone’s inner world. It’s like psychoanalysis.”