Two days ago, I check the mail and discover one of those letters with a translucent window. Money!
Indeed. Chase had kindly closed one of my accounts (upon request). Lo — a whopping $.01 remained. Fortunately, someone decided, “by the time we invoice, cut, print and mail this check — we’ll be $2.45 in the hole — let’s send the thing.”
To honor this effort, instead of cashing “Exactly Zero Dollars and One Cent” — I decided to make it art. How far can a penny go? We’re about to find out. Bidding began at $100 — and is already up to $177.50 — an appreciation of 1,775,000%.
The auction ends on Friday… I’m donating 50% to the Teton Valley Foundation, so keep smashing that bid button. Oh, and to my dear friends around the world — for some reason, my international shipping option did not publish… if you are interested, I have a workaround.
The Process
This piece was created during breaks from my 8th Guggenheim, coordinating a new commission, working on a new interview for Forbes and planning a trip to Seattle. In other words — it was cathartic. The idea to make this art came instantly… I posted it on Facebook, and the demand was enough to proceed.
And now… for a blow-by-blow recap… in photos.
The initial, free-wheeling first draft.
Ultimately, I deconstructed the first layout, and began building the image. Andy Warhol is affectionately canoodling the check. In ‘The Andy Warhol Diaries’, he begins one entry, “Went to church and while I was kneeling and praying for money…” — love that. Then, we have Marilyn Monroe from her infamous ‘Playboy’ debut emerging from the check, atop a stack of antiquated, blurry cash from Mario Puzo’s ‘Inside Las Vegas’. Below, that’s hockey player/artist William Wegman, scolding the paltry sum. James Cagney is firing a three-penny-discount at Humphrey Bogart, while Wendy (Shelley Duvall) is petrified by the penny.
For good measure, I added the ‘Standard‘ Ed Ruscha, a few Basquiat strips, random words, some of Andy’s Marilyns, and, to top it off, a lower-mandible-free diamond skull, by Damien Hirst.
For some reason, I felt like creating triangles, which were really inspired Russian Constructivism and its prouns.
The tones were taken from the Marilyns — no need to alter an excellent palette.
And here it is… let’s see who ends up with this baby!
A closer look at how standard can be crazy.
Bad. Bad penny!