Rendered in imposing black and white, Andy Warhol’s SOMEBODY WANTS TO BUY YOUR APARTMENT BUILDING! , circa 1985-86 is a compelling example from Warhol’s advertisement series. Culled from the visual advertisements, maps, signage and slogans of New York City, the present lot marks a return for Warhol to his early career as a commercial illustrator, made evident by his apt freehand drawing style rendered in simple black lines. SOMEBODY WANTS TO BUY YOUR APARTMENT BUILDING! is a sprawling slogan, executed in block, capital letters, terminating with an exclamation point that expresses the urgency and time pressured insistence of the real estate come-on. Warhol’s mock advertisements are highly sought after because of their boldly ironic use of the splashy and yet cliché-ridden language of consumerism. Implicitly, this category of his work also draws the equation between the commercial value of art and real estate. The present lot’s promotional catch line is further emphasized by his strategic off-register text, which brings to mind the generic and error prone script of a newspaper classified ad. SOMEBODY WANTS TO BUY YOUR APARTMENT BUILDING! demands an immediate response, urging the viewer to participate in the frantic transaction promised by the announcement—to buy the product, or, as seen in the present lot, to sell their apartment building that perpetually seems to be an object of desire.