25 May 2011
Why has Andy Warhol gotten so damn ’spensive!?!
$27 million. $38.44 million. $27.52 million. Andy Warhol’s portraits and self-portraits have been a hot commodity on the auction block this past spring. I happen to think it’s not because people like the paintings so much, but for their historical value: People recognize that Warhol was the guy who ruined the idea of the icon for ever after. It wasn’t the internet. It wasn’t Google. It wasn’t the nichefication of popular culture. It was him. 15 minutes; party photos; making idiots into superstars; the whole lot.
Posted by Alec Hanley Bemis
Tags: Andy Warhol, Icons, Jerry Saltz, The Problem With Glamour, The Problem With Nostalgia, The problem with the