PAUL STEPHENSON
RARELY HAS SUCH A FAITHFUL RENDERING OF AN ARTIST’S METHODOLOGY BEEN ESTABLISHED WITH THE RIGOUR AND DILIGENCE THAT WE SEE IN AFTER WARHOL. PAUL STEPHENSON’S ODYSSEY INTO THE WORLD OF WARHOL BEGAN IN 2010 WHEN HE PURCHASED A COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST’S ORIGINAL ACETATES. HIS ENSUING COLLECTION – CREATED IN COLLABORATION WITH ONE OF WARHOL’S ORIGINAL MASTER PRINTERS, ALEXANDER HEINRICI – HAS BEEN LAUDED BOTH BY THE BBC AND VICE MAGAZINE. THE STORY The story of how these artworks came to exist is a fascinating one. It begins with a chance discovery at an auction of Warhol’s original acetates, the negatives that Andy Warhol used to make his paintings from the 1960s until his death. Although Paul did not realise it at the time these acetates were a key part of Warhol’s art making process. This is because of Warhol’s revolutionary ‘art by telephone’ approach; because Warhol attempted to remove ‘the hand of the artist’ from making art these hand embellished acetates were often the last point that Warhol physically changed his artworks. It is easiest to think of them as very similar to a photographer’s negatives. NEW SILKSCREEN ON PAPER EDITIONS This new suite of works is the first time Paul has produced works on paper for Castle Fine Art and it is absolutely in keeping with Warhol’s philosophy: Paul says, “Warhol loved that ‘the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as anyone else. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good.’ Warhol wanted his art to be accessible so everyone could own/enjoy his art the same way anyone could walk into a supermarket and buy a Coke or a can of Campbell’s soup. I also believe everyone should be able to afford a Warhol so an art shop on the high street selling Warhol’s in 2020 is pure Warhol.”
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker