Tuesday, August 11, 2009

You Wanna Piece of MJ?


Better empty out your pockets, but I doubt they could hold $800,000; which is the starting bid for Andy Warhol's portrait of Michael Jackson, titled Green Michael Jackson.


Starting Wednesday, the Vered Gallery of East Hamption NY will display the Warhol MJ portrait in Beverly Hills, CA. The piece, will be available for private viewing by appointment only (and if you do call, I wouldn't say, "Oh, we're just browsing.") Bidding ends on August 18th at 8 PM EST.

The piece is legit, with not one but two stamps of approval by the Estate of Andy Warhola nd the Andy Warhol Foundation. With all the "pop" art (nice pun) out there of Michael Jackson, why is this piece so important? It was made in 1984 (my birth year, fancy that?) after the wild success of his Thriller video. It features a green background with Michael in a red shirt. Time Magazine commissioned the portrait for a March 1984 issue cover, that included a yellow background. It's a warming piece of Michael's history, depicting him at the height of his career in a way we all wish to remember him, smiling and entertaining.

It's hard to say at what price the bidding will end, but I know it'll be far from $800,000. The most ever paid for a Warhol piece was $71.7 million for “Green car crash - Green burning car”.

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