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Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties. Steven Watson. New York: Pantheon Books, 2003.
As the art world appropriated the idea of site-specific art, one high visibility locus of the 1960s has been long overdue for critical examination: Andy Warhol's Silver Factory in New York City. This studio, renowned as a watering hole, brainstorming environment, meeting place, clubhouse, psychiatric clinic, and exhibition chamber, has been discussed in dozens of books. However, it has never been appreciated as the site essential to Warhol, his entourage, and the production of their work. Moreover, appreciating Warhol (1928-1987), the leading exponent of pop art, is difficult because his carefully tailored media persona obscured his success for ten years in commercial art. Warhol had a workaholic propensity for large projects, mass production, and self-promotional personal appearances. The Factory played a major role in shaping his aesthetic and in courting a group of collaborators who made his pop art notorious.
Steven Watson's carefully researched analysis of this era (1960 - 68) transcends biography and...