ONE OF WARHOL’S MOST ICONIC AND INSTANTLY RECOGNISABLE GRAPHICS, THE COW WAS ORIGINALLY CHOSEN BY HIS ASSISTANT, GERARD MALANGA, UPON THE ADVICE OF THE AMERICAN POP ART DEALER IVAN KARP. THE PAIR EXPERIMENTED WITH VIBRANT AND UNEXPECTED NEON COLOURWAYS, WHICH PAUL STEPHENSON HAS PAINSTAKINGLY RECREATED USING THE ARTIST’S ORIGINAL ACETATE. Between 1966 and 1976, the cows were created as wallpapers for Warhol’s exhibitions. For his 1966 show at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York, a single room was adorned from floor to ceiling with the fluorescent pink and yellow colourway. Transcending decorative and artistic genres, these wallpapers – which Karp described as “blazingly bright and vulgar” – were displayed in institutes such as the Whitney Museum in New York and the Modern Art Pavilion in Seattle. Here, visitors were surrounded by the striking simplicity of the repeated imagery, which signified Warhol’s unique take on commercialisation and mass production. Single cows were sometimes spliced from the wallpaper and signed by Warhol, who used this image to subvert the timelessness of the pastoral subject and wryly comment on the use of fine art as wallpaper in people’s homes. The humorous colour scheme lends the artworks a feeling of excitement, which inspired Paul to create this collection during a time of anxiety and uncertainty. Intended to bring viewers hope and laughter, the silkscreens on paper each relate to a specific Warhol exhibition, giving them a place in the narrative of art history. ANDY WARHOL: COW “It’s a typical, mischievous Warhol idea: taking something ‘fine art’ and making it something that’s just a background, but actually also an incredible, iconic Pop image.” – Paul Stephenson
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 BY THE BBC, VICE MAGAZINE AND THE SUNDAY TIMES. THE STORY The story of how these ar tworks 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 par t of Warhol’s ar t making process. This is because of Warhol’s revolutionary ‘ar t by telephone’ approach; because Warhol attempted to remove ‘the hand of the ar tist’ from making ar t these hand embellished acetates were of ten the last point that Warhol physically changed his ar tworks. It is easiest to think of them as very similar to a photographer’s negatives.
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker