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Lot Essay
Painted in 1981, Andy Warhol’s Dollar Sign is a seductive talisman, an augur of a gilded future. There is no greater representation of the American Dream than the dollar sign, with all its possibilities and pitfalls: Warhol was, as Calvin Tomkins described, ‘a rather terrifying oracle’ (C. Tomkins, ‘Raggedy Andy’, in Andy Warhol, exh. cat. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven 1970, p. 10). Painted in loud, vibrant colours, the anchorless symbol of Dollar Sign floats against a shade of Tiffany Blue. Echoing the complex invocations of currency in the paintings of his friend Jean-Michel Basquiat—with whom Warhol would collaborate extensively from 1983-1985—the icon glows in crimson, blue and gleaming gold. Its lush palette seems at once sacred and profane, infernal and heavenly. Audacious, alluring, exquisite, blunt, Dollar Sign embodies the essence of money itself.
Instead of copying a readymade image, Warhol drew his own rendition of the dollar sign, which he then enlarged and developed into a series of silkscreened paintings. The Dollar Sign paintings were first exhibited at the Castelli Gallery, the epicentre of New York’s art world in 1982. Warhol attended the opening, held on 9 January, and recorded the event afterwards in his diary: ‘Another big opening of mine—a double—Dollar Signs at the Castelli on Greene Street and Reversals at the Castelli on West Broadway … it was like a busy sixties day’ (A. Warhol quoted in P. Hackett, (ed.), The Andy Warhol Diaries, New York 1989, p. 425). The entire gallery space was given over to the bold canvases, each painted in different opulent colour-schemes. Warhol’s close friend and chronicler David Bourdon remembered that the Dollar Signs ‘appeared as prophetic emblems of the huge amounts of money that would pour into the art world during the following years’ (D. Bourdon, Warhol, New York 1989, p. 384). Indeed, the shimmering gold outline of the present work seems to reference both the bullion that backs paper currency and the reverential, almost religious devotion that money can inspire.
Warhol had begun exploring money-related imagery as early as the 1950s when he created a drawing of a money tree. He continued to explore the theme the following decade, during which he drew and silkscreened stacked images of dollar bills. The relationship between art and money intrigued Warhol: both arouse envy and debate; both hold the potential for power and fame. Indeed, by printing the dollar sign directly onto canvas, Warhol in effect minted his own currency. The artist, who had recently entered his fifties, saw the 1980s as an opportunity for new creative developments, and conceived some of his greatest and most enigmatic series during that decade, including the Dollar Signs, Guns, and Shadow paintings. Taken together, these works paint a portrait of a nation grappling with its own instability and violence. Reflecting on Warhol’s grand aspirations, the art historian J. D. Ketner II noted that ‘in creating Guns and Knives in tandem with Dollar Sign, Warhol fulfilled his youthful ambition to create symbols of contemporary society, in this instance conflating issues of money, power, and violence during a time that witnessed the dawning of the neo-conservative Ronald Reagan era and sectarian conflicts around the globe’ (J. D. Ketner II, Andy Warhol: The Last Decade, exh. cat. Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee 2009, p. 26). Dollar Sign is one of the artist’s most potent paintings. Underscoring Warhol’s enduring fascinating with currency, wealth, and consumption, it also presents a powerful mirror, laying bare the driving forces and desires of society.
Instead of copying a readymade image, Warhol drew his own rendition of the dollar sign, which he then enlarged and developed into a series of silkscreened paintings. The Dollar Sign paintings were first exhibited at the Castelli Gallery, the epicentre of New York’s art world in 1982. Warhol attended the opening, held on 9 January, and recorded the event afterwards in his diary: ‘Another big opening of mine—a double—Dollar Signs at the Castelli on Greene Street and Reversals at the Castelli on West Broadway … it was like a busy sixties day’ (A. Warhol quoted in P. Hackett, (ed.), The Andy Warhol Diaries, New York 1989, p. 425). The entire gallery space was given over to the bold canvases, each painted in different opulent colour-schemes. Warhol’s close friend and chronicler David Bourdon remembered that the Dollar Signs ‘appeared as prophetic emblems of the huge amounts of money that would pour into the art world during the following years’ (D. Bourdon, Warhol, New York 1989, p. 384). Indeed, the shimmering gold outline of the present work seems to reference both the bullion that backs paper currency and the reverential, almost religious devotion that money can inspire.
Warhol had begun exploring money-related imagery as early as the 1950s when he created a drawing of a money tree. He continued to explore the theme the following decade, during which he drew and silkscreened stacked images of dollar bills. The relationship between art and money intrigued Warhol: both arouse envy and debate; both hold the potential for power and fame. Indeed, by printing the dollar sign directly onto canvas, Warhol in effect minted his own currency. The artist, who had recently entered his fifties, saw the 1980s as an opportunity for new creative developments, and conceived some of his greatest and most enigmatic series during that decade, including the Dollar Signs, Guns, and Shadow paintings. Taken together, these works paint a portrait of a nation grappling with its own instability and violence. Reflecting on Warhol’s grand aspirations, the art historian J. D. Ketner II noted that ‘in creating Guns and Knives in tandem with Dollar Sign, Warhol fulfilled his youthful ambition to create symbols of contemporary society, in this instance conflating issues of money, power, and violence during a time that witnessed the dawning of the neo-conservative Ronald Reagan era and sectarian conflicts around the globe’ (J. D. Ketner II, Andy Warhol: The Last Decade, exh. cat. Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee 2009, p. 26). Dollar Sign is one of the artist’s most potent paintings. Underscoring Warhol’s enduring fascinating with currency, wealth, and consumption, it also presents a powerful mirror, laying bare the driving forces and desires of society.