Thermofax Portfolio by Gerard Malanga (2009)

Portfolio of 8 Thermofax prints by Gerard Malanga.

Hand-signed on each print with the lead print numbered by hand. The lead print includes a poem that Gerard Malanga wrote at The Factory in 1965.

While Andy Warhol was working on his "Death and Disaster" series, Gerard Malanga saved images that Warhol decided not to use. Malanga used these images to create a "Thermofax" portfolio."

Andy Warhol purchased a Thermofax machine in 1964. The Thermfax predated Mimeo or Xerox technology and reproduced images by feeding the source image into the machine coupled with chemically treated paper that was thermal and light sensitive.

The light and heat settings were adjustable and the resulting image was often unpredictable, especially if the machine overheated (which it did often). Gerard used many of Warhol's Death and Disaster outtakes to create a series of Thermofax prints which he would then feed through his typewriter, adding poetry to the burned-in images.

Warhol, Billy Name, and Malanga used the Thermofax machine extensively for about a year.

As more reliable reproduction methods came to market, Thermofax technology fell out of fashion by the end of the 1960s.

Malanga re-encountered the Thermofax technology in 2009 with the help of Dagon James while working on the Secret Cinema book. Malanga used the original "Death and Disaster" outtakes to create this portfolio after revisiting the Thermofax machine.