If you visit the House of Guitars, you’ll probably run into co-owner Armand Schaubroeck.
Now you also can see him at The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.
Images of a much younger Schaubroeck are part of “Andy Warhol Family Album,” a collection of Polaroids the Pop Art icon took of collaborators, celebrities and friends during 1972 and ’73.
The pictures come from one of six Holson-brand family photo albums containing hundreds of snapshots Warhol maintained as a personal archive.
Schaubroeck met Warhol in 1966. After tracking down his Manhattan phone number through Rochester's Rundel library, Schaubroeck called Warhol to talk about a concept album he was working on, “A Lot of People Would Like to See Armand Schaubroeck ... Dead.”
The
songs were inspired by Schaubroeck’s time at Elmira Correctional Facility, where he was sent in 1962 at 17 after committing a string of burglaries.
Intrigued, Warhol invited Schaubroeck to his New York City art studio, The Factory. The two formed a friendship, which led to more meetings.
Warhol believed that Schaubroeck’s rock opera could be the basis for an off-Broadway play or maybe even a movie.
But the project stalled in 1968 when Warhol was shot and critically wounded by Valerie Solanas.
That year, Schaubroeck decided to record the album, a triple LP, on his own Mirror Records label.
Warhol still helped Schaubroeck promote it, according to the House of Guitars.
Schaubroeck signed the Polaroids Warhol took of him at the artist’s request.
The exhibit at the Whitney, at 99 Gansevoort St. on Manhattan's Lower West Side, runs through Oct. 19.
For more, go to whitney.org.
Reporter Marcia Greenwood primarily covers the grocery business and consumer-focused grocery news, as well as retail development, openings and closings. Send story tips to mgreenwo@rocheste.gannett.com. Follow her on X @MarciaGreenwood.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Warhol Polaroids of House of Guitars legend featured in NYC exhibit
