Feature: 20 Feb 2023

Make Me Famous

New art documentary Make Me Famous has just hit cinemas for a short window.

Director Brian Vincent’s debut documentary explores New York’s downtown art scene in the 1980s where “artists were inspired to make their own rules and not wait for the elites to choose them, they made their art and their own worlds until they got famous or died trying.”

Make me famous chair — New York in the 1980s. Women sitting on the Macadam Metal Folding Chair. Photo © Gary Azon.

Macadam Metal Folding Chair
As seen in:
- Make Me Famous
Director: Brian Vincent

Designed by interiors brand Habitat, the Macadam metal folding chair is made from powder coated steel with rubber feet.

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While the 1980s made many artists famous and household names, Make Me Famous tells the story of the Lower East Side art movement through the eyes of well-connected painter Edward Brezinski.

Edward Brezinski painting in his studio with model in foreground left sitting on a Thonet chair. Photo © Jonathan Postal

Thonet Chair No14 (vintage)
As seen in:
Designer: Michael Thonet

Generations of art directors and set designers have cast a Thonet bentwood chair (often the Thonet Chair No14 and Chair No18), also known as the ‘bistro chair’ or ‘cafe chair’, in their films.

Approx £530.00 / $694

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Edward Brezinski worked alongside Keith Haring, David Wojnarowicz, and Jean-Michel Basquiat in the Lower East Side art scene, but never reached the same level of success as his contemporaries. Make Me Famous uncovers why such a well-connected yet peculiar painter never made it, despite being so maniacally focused in his quest for fame.

What begins as an investigation into Brezinski’s legacy and mysterious disappearance becomes a sharp, witty portrait of NYC’s 1980s downtown art scene. Gallery owners and fellow artists dish on insider gossip, name drop, and contradict each other in telling the story, resulting in an irresistible snapshot of an unknown artist that captures the spirit of an iconic era.

In London cinemas DocHouse and ICA from 17^th February – see here.

Watch the trailer:-