Demian Repucci content

Andy has done it again.  Hot painting of the moment ‘200 One Dollar Bills’  (1962) sold at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction last night for US$43,762,500. Over three times the high estimate of $12 million.  The New York Times article about the sale describes five collectors in competition for the piece.  The painting is a classic in that it is one of Warhol’s first silk screens.  And the fact that this piece is in great condition makes it an enticing target for serious Warhol collectors.  But $43.7 million?  Personally, as nice as this painting is, I do not think it is one of Warhol’s strongest works.  His exploration of subjects such as Campbell’s Soup or Marilyn Monroe really help develop his ‘Pop Art’ sensibilities more than this depiction of money.  Warhol then twists the Pop Art idea with things like his ‘Mao’ series.  Getting stranger still when he makes himself the subject.  Popularity is what popularity decides it should be?  Or something like that.  An idea built upon by many famous personalities since then.

But maybe that was Warhol’s thesis all along.  Even with ‘200 One Dollar Bills’.  So… did we decide that it’s rows of multiples make it important?  Or did it?  Or is the lesson that an unimportant thing, done many times, gains importance?  And how does pattern and repetition affect our perception?  One dollar bill is not very interesting.  But many dollars, grouped together to form a sort of ‘whole’ suddenly becomes more important than simply it’s sum.  So is that the question?  Is 200 one dollar bills worth more, from a perception standpoint, than $200?  Well, evidently someone thinks it is worth $43,762,300 more.  And therein Sotheby’s, and Warhol, have the last laugh.  Maybe I was wrong in my initial assessment.  Maybe Warhol knew exactly what he was doing.  Even from early in his career.  Money – and lots of it – will always command our attention.