A descendant of THE Brillo Boxes
Andy Warhol made this incredible sculpture in 1982
The Brillo Box was sealed, nailed shut on all 6 sides
This box is open and attempts to hold what’s withinHere we have the surprise Duchampian gesture (or is it a Price is Right Curtain number 3!)
There are Hollywood references to the Stars in cement on the walk of fame
and Hollywood gangster films wearing a cement pair of shoesThen again
They are reminiscent of receiving a gift box of chocolate
No one buys a box of chocolate for themselves
It’s a gift
Andy Warhol, Sidewalk from Eight by Eight, 1983. Artwork: © 2022 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York "…Anyway, one Saturday morning I called a B who knows me pretty well and asked him if he would like to go underwear-shopping with me at Macy’s…I stopped and watched a Japanese lady in a kimono make up an American lady in a jumpsuit. They were starring in ‘Shiseido Presents Exotic Makeup Artist for Free.’ Then we walked past the big Charlie promotion, past the Famous Maker Ties, past the candy department – which took a lot of willpower on my part. I walked past the Raspberry-Cherry Mix-Max, the Licorice All-Kinds, the Jelly Beans, the Rock Candy, the Chocolate Pretzels, the TV Munch, the Petit Fours, the Mon Cherry, the Lollipops, the Nonpareils, I even walked past the Whitman Samplers. The smell of chocolate was driving me nuts but I didn’t say a word. I didn’t even sigh or moan. I just thought of my pimples and gall bladder and kept on walking.”
—Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again)
Lucy and Ethel at the chocolate factory during the “Job Switching” episode of I Love Lucy. Provenance
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York
Acquired from the above by the present ownerArtist 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.
Property from an Important Contemporary Collection
54
Untitled (Whitman's Sampler)
1982
Two cement blocks wrapped in cellophane, contained in a Whitman's Sampler cardboard candy box, with original cellophane wrapping (loose).
9 x 11 x 1 7/8 in. (22.9 x 27.9 x 4.8 cm)
Both cement blocks incised with signature and dated '12-25-82', with the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board and Estate of Andy Warhol inkstamps, and numbered 'SC16.007' in black ink on the interior bottom of the box, accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York.
Estimate
$8,000 - 12,000
Sold for $13,860
212 940 1220
Editions & Works on Paper
New York Auction 24 - 26 October 2022
179
This lot is no longer available.
