Painted over: A portrait of Ed Brezinski emerges on screen

Santa Fe Film Festival Coverage

A new documentary, Make Me Famous, screening at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 4, at the Center for Contemporary Arts as part of the Santa Fe Film Festival, brings him the attention he never received during his lifetime, while also capturing the make-it-or-break-it era in all its vicissitudes.

Brezinski, living in a squalid tenement across from a homeless shelter and running gallery shows out his apartment, was a fixture on the scene, but his antics (he once threw a glass of red wine in Nosei’s face at an opening and, later, threatened to kill her) kept the dealers at arm’s length.

But even if fame was elusive, artists like Brezinski and his contemporaries had each other. They promoted each other at ad hoc, artist-run venues, lived with each other, slept with each other, and copied each other’s work.

“I was overwhelmed by the devotion to creativity that they all shared,” says Make Me Famous director Brian Vincent. “By performing for each other, they kind of challenged each other and lifted each other up and created one of the most exciting artistic eras in American history.”

Read more here in the Santa Fe New Mexican’s Pasatiempo, Michael Abatemarco Feb 4, 2022