Rene Ricard
Rene Ricard (July 23, 1946 – February 1, 2014) was an American poet, art critic and painter. In a lengthy, varied and acclaimed career, Ricard was both a commenter on and participant in some of the most seminal artistic moments of New York City's vibrant scene.
Life
Ricard was born in Boston and grew up in Acushnet, Massachusetts. 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. He appeared in the Warhol films Kitchen (1965), Chelsea Girls (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 and Charles Ludlam. 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 magazine.
Having achieved stature in the art world by successfully launching the career of painter Julian Schnabel, Ricard helped bring Jean-Michel Basquiat 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. Andy Warhol disparagingly called him "the George Sanders of the Lower East Side, the Rex Reed of the art world."
