No other series reflect mass identity, luxury and wealth as prominently as Warhol’s Dollar Sign Portfolios from 1982. The prints from this series are recognizable for repeatedly featuring the American dollar sign in neon bright colors. Each reiteration of the image showcases vibrant colors to enhance the visual impact of the monetary symbol.
No other series reflect mass identity, luxury and wealth as prominently as Andy Warhol’s Dollar Sign Portfolios from 1982. The prints from this series are recognizable for repeatedly featuring the American dollar sign in neon bright colors. Each reiteration of the image showcases vibrant colors to enhance the visual impact of the monetary symbol. The source image for this series was created by Andy Warhol himself as he didn’t find a readymade image of the dollar sign that produced the same dramatic effect. To do so, he returned to his origins as a draughtsman created the large dollar signs by hand. Essentially, he created a Warholian currency that was also unique to his artistic identity.
The first portfolio of six screenprints featuring the dollar sign was printed on relatively small boards, just 19 3/4 inches by 15 5/8 inches in size.
Andy Warhol Screenprint $ (1) 1982, Portfolio of six works, FS II. 274-279
Additionally, Warhol created a single dollar sign edition that was slightly bigger in size, 20 inches by 16 inches
Andy Warhol $ (1) 1982 FS II.280
Next, Warhol played around with arranging 4 dollar signs, all of the same type face but slanted at slightly different angles. The serpentine lines of the font combined with the varying angles of the signs keep our eye running around the composition in exciting curves. These works, measuring at 40 inches by 32 inches, are a part of a two-piece portfolio
Andy Warhol Screenprint $ (4) 1982 FS II. 281
The next two-work portfolio is similar in its arrangement of 4 dollar signs and identical in size, but now each sign has its own background color, breaking the visual field into a colorful quadrant.
Andy Warhol Screenprint $ (Quadrant) 1982 FS II. 284
The last portfolio consists of two work as well, measuring the same as the quadrant but squeezing in an additional 5 dollar signs, making for a glowing 3 by 3 grid
Andy Warhol Screenprint $ (9) 1982 FS II. 286
Nothing intrigued Warhol more than money.
In fact, origins of his obsession can be traced back to his childhood growing up in poor family from industrial Pittsburgh. He began creating money imagery as early as the 1950s with drawings of money growing out of a tree. Ironically, the series was created in a time of economic downturn for the United States. For one, the Iranian revolution in 1979 had caused a surge in oil prices. A year later, the United States entered an economic recession which would last for two years. The ostentatious imagery of Warhol dollar signs becomes a visual satire when considering the historical context.
Overall, Andy Warhol’s dollar sign series represents the crucial intersections between art and wealth. Both art and money are luxury commodities in their own right. Intrinsic to both is their appeal to mass consumption and purchasing power. Warhol arguably likened himself to a money press, repeatedly churning out the dollar symbol in mass quantities. He famously said, “say you were going to buy a painting. I think you should take that money, tie it up, and hang it on the wall. The when someone visited you, the first thing they would see is the money on the wall” (A. Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again, New York, 1975, p.134).
Buy Original Andy Warhol Signed and Numbered Artwork For Sale
Andy Warhol's Pop Art legacy continues to inspire various forms of contemporary aesthetic expression. Our collection of hand-signed Warhol screen prints includes pop art subjects of Mick Jagger, Mickey Mouse, Superman, Moonwalk, Flowers, Marilyn Monroe, Mao, Cow, and Campbell's Soup, and are of higher collectible value due to their distinct color variations and one-of-a-kind nature.
The American artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol was born Andrew Warhola in 1928. There has for years been quite a bit of confusion to where and when Andy Warhol was born, but according to Andy’s two older brothers and the birth certificate that was filed in Pittsburgh in 1945, he was born on August 6th in Pittsburgh. Whether or not this is the day he was born hasn’t been proved, but it was on this date he would celebrate his birthday. However, there is no doubt that he died at 6:31 A.M. on Sunday, February 22nd, 1987, at the New York Hospital after a gallbladder operation. He is considered a founder and major figure of the POP ART movement. A graduate of the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1949, he moved to New York City and gained success as a commercial artist. He got his first break in August 1949, when Glamour Magazine wanted him to illustrate a feature entitled “Success is a Job in New York”. But by accident the credit read “Drawings by Andy Warhol” and that’s how Andy dropped the “a” in his last name. He continued doing ads and illustrations and by 1955 he was the most successful and imitated commercial artist in New York. In 1960 he produced the first of his paintings depicting enlarged comic strip images – such as Popeye and Superman – initially for use in a window display.
Warhol pioneered the development of the process whereby an enlarged photographic image is transferred to a silk screen that is then placed on a canvas and inked from the back. Each Warhol silkscreen used this technique that enabled him to produce the series of mass-media images – repetitive, yet with slight variations – that he began in 1962. These iconic Andy Warhol prints, incorporating such items as Campbell’s Soup cans, dollar bills, Coca-Cola bottles, flowers, and the faces of celebrities, can be taken as comments on the banality, harshness, and ambiguity of American culture.
Later in the 1960s, Warhol made a series of experimental films dealing with such ideas as time, boredom, and repetition; they include Sleep (1963), Empire (1964), and The Chelsea Girls (1966). In 1965 he started working with a rock band called “The Velvet Underground” formed by Lou Reed and John Cale. Andy introduced them to the model and movie star Nico and she sang on their debut album from 1967 “The Velvet Underground and Nico”. Andy would travel around the country, not only with The Velvets, but also with superstar of the year Edie Sedgwick and the light show “The Exploding Plastic Inevitable”.
On June 3rd, 1968, Valerie Solanis, a rejected superstar, came into The Factory and shot Andy three times in the chest. He was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead, but after having his chest cut up and been given heart massage, he survived. Valerie Solanis turned herself in that night and was put in a mental institution. She was later given a three year prison sentence. After recovering Andy Warhol continued to work. He founded inter/VIEW magazine in 1969 (they changed the name to Interview in 1971), published The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again in 1975 and continued to paint portraits until his death in 1987.
In the 1960s, Warhol began his most prolific period as an artist. He had already begun making a name for himself in the commercial art world, yet he desired to known as a fine artist as well. He began converting the themes of advertisements into large-scale graphic canvases. To make his large-scale graphic canvases, Warhol projected an enlarged image onto a canvas on the wall. He would subsequently work freehand, without a pencil, rendering a painterly result. In order to develop his own niche in painting, his friends suggested he paint the things he loved the most. The result was the iconic Campbell’s Soup Cans, 1962. Warhol said of Campbell’s Soup “I used to drink it. I used to have the same lunch every day, for 20 years, I guess, the same thing over and over again.” Though the works resemble mass-produced advertisements, they were painted by projecting the images onto a canvas and stenciled afterwards. This way, Warhol removes evidence of an artist’s hand.<
WARHOL PHOTOGRAPHY
Though best known for his silkscreens and paintings, Warhol became a passionate photographer later in his life. He carried a camera with him at all times, capturing everything from personal friends to iconic celebrities. The photographs signified his apathy towards social hierarchy and also ranged from black and white 35 mm portraits to Polaroid shots. He approached photography in two ways. In one instance, he created over 500 ‘stitched’ photographs which feature identical images sewn together in a grid form. This was a clear demonstration of his interest in repeated imagery. In another instance, he would only choose a single photo from a set to become a print. The singularity of these works shows a clear separation from Warhol’s typical themes of mass production and repetition. Therefore, photography provided Warhol opportunities to showcase both his private self and his public artistic identity.
WARHOL SCREEN PRINTS
Of his silkscreens, Warhol has said “the reason I’m painting this way is that I want to be a machine, and I feel that whatever I do and do machine-like is what I want to do.” Indeed, machine-like precision and mimicry appear repeatedly in works of this medium. The screenprinting process was a variation of stenciling. Warhol had a streamlined process in producing silk screen prints. First, he laid a photograph on to the mesh of a silk screen. Afterwards, he passed an ink-covered squeegee over the mesh. The ink would pass through the mesh and impress a print of the image onto the canvas underneath. The choice of ink depended on the intended composition of the final product. Warhol was able to apply multiple colors to create a layering effect, thus a different color composition could be made each time. He used a variety of canvases and papers. Warhol’s best known silk screen prints include his iconic portfolio of Marilyn Monroe: Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn), 1967,Elizabeth Taylor (Colored Liz), 1963 and Mick Jagger Portfolio of 10 screenprints, 1975. Producing art in a systematic manner similar to an assembly line, he gave rise to series or portfolios of his beloved celebrities including Andy Warhol's Mao portfolio. Even today, these massively recognizable images serve as a beacon of popular culture.
Warhol’s range as an artist certainly shows in his sculptures and installations. Similar to his other works, his sculptures replicated commercial symbols and ideologies. Of this medium the best known were the series of “grocery carton” works which replicated Heinz Ketchup and Campbell’s tomato juice cans. His best known sculpture from this series is probably his Brillo Boxes,1964. As the name suggests, Warhol applied silkscreened logos of the consumer product onto plywood boxes. The resulting appearance was identical to the logoed boxes often see in supermarkets. These sculptures were first exhibited at the Stable Gallery in 1964 and called to question what can be considered as fine art. When asked about these boxes, Warhol expressed he “wanted something ordinary”. Overall, his sculptural works centered on Warhol’s beloved premise of commercialization.
