Rene Ricard (July 23, 1946 – February 1, 2014) was an American poet, actor, art critic, and painter.GalleristNY (February 1, 2014)
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Life and career

Albert Napoleon Ricard was born in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and grew up in

Acushnet, Massachusetts Acushnet () is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 10,559 at the 2020 census. Acushnet is a part of the South Coast region of Massachusetts which encompasses the cities and towns that surround Buzzards B ...

, near

New Bedford New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast (Massachusetts), South Coast region. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, New Bedford had a ...

. As a young teenager he ran away to Boston and assimilated into the literary scene of the city. By age eighteen, he had moved to New York City, where he became a protégé of

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

. He appeared in the Warhol films ''

Kitchen A kitchen is a room (architecture), room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a Kitchen stove, stove, a sink ...

'' (1965), ''

Chelsea Girls ''Chelsea Girls'' is a 1966 American experimental underground film directed by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey. The film was Warhol's first major commercial success after a long line of avant-garde art films (both feature-length and short). I ...

'' (1966), and '' The Andy Warhol Story'' (1966). As a performer, Ricard was a founding participant in the Theater of the Ridiculous collaborating with

John Vaccaro Theatre of the Ridiculous is a theatrical genre that began in New York City in the 1960s.Bottoms, Stephen J. Chapter 11: "The Play-House of the Ridiculous: Beyond Absurdity". ''Playing Underground: A Critical History of the 1960s Off-Off-Broadway M ...

and

Charles Ludlam Charles Braun Ludlam (April 12, 1943May 28, 1987) was an American actor, director, and playwright. Biography Early life Ludlam was born in Floral Park, New York, the son of Marjorie (née Braun) and Joseph William Ludlam. He was raised in ...

. He also appeared in the 1980 Eric Mitchell independent film '' Underground U.S.A.'' (1980), as well as numerous other independent art and commercial films. In the 1980s, he wrote a series of influential essays for ''

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ × 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...

'' magazine. Having achieved stature in the art world by successfully launching the career of painter

Julian Schnabel Julian Schnabel (born October 26, 1951) is an American painter and filmmaker. In the 1980s, he received international attention for his "plate paintings"—with broken ceramic plates set onto large-scale paintings. Since the 1990s, he has been a ...

, Ricard helped bring

Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti ...

to fame. In December 1981, he published the first major article on Basquiat, entitled "The Radiant Child," in ''Artforum''. Ricard also contributed art essays to numerous gallery and exhibition catalogs. He was immortalized by

in the drawing entitled ''Untitled (Axe/Rene)'', representing the tension that existed between the two. Warhol called Ricard "the

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous charac ...

of the Lower East Side, the

Rex Reed Rex Taylor Reed (born October 2, 1938) is an American film critic, journalist, and media personality. Raised throughout the southern United States and educated at Louisiana State University, Reed moved to New York City in the early 1960s to begi ...

of the art world."Warhol, Andy; Hackett, Pat (ed.). ''The Andy Warhol Diaries''. New York: Warner Books, 1989. Saturday, January 28, 1984 entry, p. 551. From the mid-1960s Ricard contributed writings to numerous independent poetry magazines and anthologies. In 1979, the

Dia Art Foundation Dia Art Foundation is a nonprofit organization that initiates, supports, presents, and preserves art projects. It was established in 1974 by Philippa de Menil, the daughter of Houston arts patron Dominique de Menil and an heiress to the Schlumbe ...

published Ricard's first book of poems, an eponymous volume styled on Tiffany & Co. catalog. The fact that the turquoise-covered book of poems appears in photographs taken on the beach in ''

The Ballad of Sexual Dependency ''The Ballad of Sexual Dependency'' is a 1985 slide show exhibition and 1986 artist's book publication of photographs taken between 1979 and 1986 by photographer Nan Goldin. Consisting of over 700 images, it is an autobiographical document of a ...

'' by

Nan Goldin Nancy Goldin (born 1953) is an American photographer and activist. Her work explores in snapshot-style the emotions of the individual, in intimate relationships, and the Bohemian style, bohemian LGBT subcultural communities, especially dealing w ...

illustrates its ubiquity as summer reading in 1979. His second book of poetry, ''God With Revolver'' (

Hanuman Books Hanuman Books (named after the Hindu monkey god Hanuman) was originally a 50 book series of very small books, formatted to resemble Indian prayer books. In 1986 Hanuman Books was founded and published by American art critic Raymond Foye and arti ...

) was published ten years later, edited by Raymond Foye. The same year he contributed poems to ''

Francesco Clemente Francesco Clemente (born 23 March 1952) is an Italian contemporary artist. He has lived at various times in Italy, India and New York City. Some of his work is influenced by the traditional art and culture of India. He has worked in various a ...

: Sixteen Pastels'' (London: Anthony D'Offay). Ricard released two other volumes of poetry: ''Trusty Sarcophagus Co.'' (Inanout Press, 1990), which featured his poems rendered in paintings and drawings and was the basis of an exhibit at the Petersburg Gallery, New York City; and ''Love Poems'' (C U Z Editions, 1999) as a collaboration with artist Robert Hawkins who provided drawings for the book. Ricard also saw publication of single-poem works as limited edition artist books: ''Opera of the Worms'' with paintings by

Judy Rifka Judy Rifka (born 1945) is an American artist active since the 1970s as a painter and video artist. She works heavily in New York City's Tribeca and Lower East Side and has associated with movements coming out of the area in the 1970s and 1980s s ...

(1984), ''Cecil'' (2004), and ''In Daddy's Hand'' with artist Rita Barros (2010). Beginning in the late 1980s Ricard's poems were often rendered in paintings and drawings. His work was the subject of several solo gallery exhibitions in the United States and United Kingdom, as well as being represented in many group exhibitions. In 2003, Percival Press published the full-color monograph ''Paintings & Drawings'', illustrating a collection of visually rendered poems by Ricard. In 2004, Ricard created the album cover for '' Shadows Collide with People'' by musician

John Frusciante John Anthony Frusciante ( ; born March 5, 1970) is an American musician and the guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, having been with the band across three iterations. He has released 11 solo albums and 7 EPs, ranging in style from acoustic gu ...

. Ricard was portrayed by

Michael Wincott Michael Anthony Claudio Wincott (born January 21, 1958) is a Canadian actor. His deep, raspy voice has often led to his being cast in villainous roles. Some of his best-known roles include Guy of Gisbourne in '' Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'' ( ...

's biographical film, ''

Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti ...

'' (1996). He lived at the famed

Hotel Chelsea The Hotel Chelsea (also known as the Chelsea Hotel and the Chelsea) is a hotel at 222 West 23rd Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Built between 1883 and 1884, the hotel was designed by Philip Hubert in a styl ...

in New York City intermittently for 40 years.Levy, Ariel 'New York Storeys' ''The Sunday Times Magazine'', March 25, 2007, pp. 40-51, see page 47.

Death

Ricard died on February 1, 2014, of cancer at

Bellevue Hospital Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States ...

in New York City at the age of 67.

Books

Art reviews and essays

Selected additional published works

Solo exhibitions

Film performances

Recordings

References

External links

* *
"After The Fall"
Michele Civetta, NYU TSOA * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ricard, Rene 1946 births American male actors American male poets American gay writers American LGBTQ poets LGBTQ people from Massachusetts 2014 deaths People from Acushnet, Massachusetts Poets from Boston Poets from New York City 20th-century American poets 20th-century American male writers Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Gay poets People associated with The Factory