John Giorno is a poet and visual artist. Born in 1936 in New York City, Giorno attended Columbia University and worked as a stockbroker for a short time before meeting Andy Warhol in 1962.
Biography
John Giorno is a poet and visual artist. Born in 1936 in New York City, Giorno attended Columbia University and worked as a stockbroker for a short time before meeting Andy Warhol in 1962. A romantic relationship ensued, and Giorno was featured in Warhol’s first film, Sleep (1963). The influence of pop art and Warhol’s Factory are evident in Giorno’s work, which developed out of verbal collages of appropriated texts drawn from advertising and signage.
Since 1962, John Giorno has been disseminating his streetwise, pioneering poetry to audiences worldwide. He lifts his poems off the page, delivering them through rhythmic performances; paintings, prints, and installations; and in LPs, mixed with music. Among his most iconic works is his “Dial-A-Poem” project (begun 1968), in which a telephone number leads to short readings by a host of writers, artists, and activists, among them Allen Ginsburg and John Cage. Giorno forged his art in 1960s New York, and was associated with numerous important figures from that period, including Andy Warhol, the Beat writers, and avant-garde performers—who all influenced his generous, democratic work. Describing his relationship with his audience, he states: “I’m giving out energy, and I’m holding up a mirror to their minds. It’s not me they’re looking at—it’s into their own minds. That’s what a great poem is.”
