The Art of Selling Out

Andy Warhol was a complete sell-out! He literally made it into an artform in itself. He was even quoted in saying “Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art”.

In general the credibility of an artist who sells out to the degree of which Warhol did, would be extremely doubted. But since he went beyond the boundaries of it the art world not only forgave him, it basically worshipped him for it. I for one love the fact that he did, and that he did it so bluntly and consistently. I honestly wish I had it in me to push my own work the way he did his.

However, today a chimpanzee would basically instantly recognize an image of the man himself or one depicting his work. We’ve seen it a million times over and one is forgiven for being fed up with it. However, not everyone has seen the last of his sell-outs, the works he created which were a series of car paintings commissioned in 1986 by Daimler-Benz (a.k.a. Mercedez-Benz) in honor of the company's centennial. Though Warhol died of a heart attack before finishing the series, he did complete 35 silkscreens and 12 large-scale drawings of the automaker's most famous models. I’m not a big Mercedes fan myself, and it's far from his best work, but I would not complain if some eccentric art collector decided to give me a couple of these to hang on my walls at home.

Andy hanging out on my mantelpiece featuring the
cover of an issue of New York Magazine published
shortly after his death.