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A Slice of Americana
Published: January 16, 2005
In "Pam: American Icon," opening Friday at the Stellan Holm
Gallery in Chelsea, the photographer Sante D'Orazio has
taken images of Pamela Anderson - stark, slightly surreal
nudes shot four years ago for Playboy but not published -
and repurposed them as art. Greg Allen spoke by phone with
Mr. D'Orazio in Manhattan and with Ms. Anderson in Malibu.
How do Playboy photos become art?
D'Orazio: Think of Warhol's Marilyn: everyone in the
world knows her. He took the image from a fan magazine. I
didn't have to go somewhere else to find my image. I made
the picture, and I can go back to my own archive and
appropriate my own imagery.
Were you thinking, "American icon"?
D'Orazio: When we look back years from now at this
particular period, Pam will be the image that's remembered.
She is the era. If you really think of it, she's a walking.
living work of art, like a happening. If you left her in the
gallery by herself, she'd be an exhibit.
What do you think about seeing these images nearly
life-size in a gallery?
Anderson: I like the experience of being in a shoot,
and I'm a total exhibitionist, but I don't like to look at
them. But Sante sent me some on my computer, and I was kind
of blown away. I can't imagine them blown up. I think I'd
feel really awkward seeing them in a gallery. Plus, I'm
there naked.
Sante described you as an icon of Americana.
Anderson: But I'm Canadian!
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