I Sold Alice Cooper's Andy Warhol

At once propulsive and informative, an insider’s account of authentication and valuation that shows how the art world of the 1970s became the investment-driven art market of today.

In 1972, rock legend Alice Cooper received one of Andy Warhol’s classic Little Electric Chair paintings as a gift, unknowingly putting into motion a saga that would take fifty years to play out. Before going on tour, Cooper rolled up the canvas, slipped it into a cardboard mailing tube, stashed it in his garage in Scottsdale, Arizona, and then promptly forgot about it. At the time, the painting went for $2,500. Today, if proven authentic, it could be worth as much as $7 million.

Drawing on his distinguished career as an art dealer and expert authenticator, Richard Polsky brings a personal touch to this fascinating piece of art history. I Sold Alice Cooper’s Andy Warhol takes the reader on a long and winding road to validate and sell Cooper’s painting, which spans Polsky’s early years in the San Francisco gallery scene, the boom of corporate art collecting in the ’80s, the gritty, vibrant East Village of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, and the current state of the industry. Along the way, you will discover how authentication works, why it matters, and what it means for the high-stakes auction process. You will also learn about Andy Warhol, Alice Cooper and his manager Shep Gordon, Dennis Hopper, Richard Prince, and the cross-pollination between artists and musicians that shaped a creative heyday.