Andy Warhol - Contemporary Art Part I New York Thursday, November 13, 2008 | Phillips

Create your first list.

Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.

  • Provenance


    Acquired directly from the artist; John Gould, New York

  • Catalogue Essay


    Money is the moment to me. Money is my mood.                                                                                           A. Warhol, quoted in The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and back again, New York, 1975, p. 136.
    It is appropriate to introduce the present lot, titled $, with a quote by Andy Warhol revealing his strong belief in money and its relation to art. Differing from other artists who disassociated themselves from money, Warhol cherished it and worked hard in his career to earn it. $ perfectly exemplifies Warhol’s unabashed love for money and his open celebration and appreciation of the currency.
    In $, the three superimposed “$” signs take on an iconic value. The shocking pink dollar sign takes over the surface of the canvas and is shadowed by two other signs in bright green and brown that are done in a sketchy, improvised style appearing as if they were quickly added on the canvas afterwards by Warhol with a crayon.The silk-screened neon colors pop out nicely from the white background and immediately call for the viewer’s attention.
    The painting presents the American currency with confidence and in a celebratory fashion. As was Warhol’s intention, the work has no emotive charge and straight-forwardly stands for what it is. It retains a detached and impersonal quality. Having removed any specific denomination,Warhol left the “$” sign at a neutral and anonymous value. This allows the viewer to think beyond the picture and contemplate the relationship between contemporary art and money.

  • Artist Biography

    Andy Warhol

    American • 1928 - 1987

    Andy Warhol was the leading exponent of the Pop Art movement in the U.S. in the 1960s. Following an early career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol achieved fame with his revolutionary series of silkscreened prints and paintings of familiar objects, such as Campbell's soup tins, and celebrities, such as Marilyn Monroe. Obsessed with popular culture, celebrity and advertising, Warhol created his slick, seemingly mass-produced images of everyday subject matter from his famed Factory studio in New York City. His use of mechanical methods of reproduction, notably the commercial technique of silk screening, wholly revolutionized art-making.

    Working as an artist, but also director and producer, Warhol produced a number of avant-garde films in addition to managing the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground and founding Interview magazine. A central figure in the New York art scene until his untimely death in 1987, Warhol was notably also a mentor to such artists as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

     

    View More Works

34

$

1981

Synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen ink on canvas.

20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm).

This work is stamped with the Estate seals and numbered “A392.102” on the overlap.

Estimate
$350,000 - 450,000 

Contemporary Art Part I

13 Nov 2008, 7pm
New York