Canvas Portrait Paintings

"Triple Elvis" (Denied) Silkscreen Painting by Charles Lutz Silkscreen and silver enamel paint on canvas with Artist's Denied stamp of the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board. 82 x 72" inches 2010 This important example was shown alongside works by Warhol in a two-person show "Warhol Revisited (Charles Lutz / Andy Warhol)" at UAB Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts in 2024. Lutz's 2007 ''Warhol Denied'' series gained international attention by calling into question the importance of originality or lack thereof in the work of Andy Warhol. The authentication/denial process of the [[Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board]] was used to create value by submitting recreations of Warhol works for judgment with the full intention for the works to be formally marked "DENIED". The final product of the conceptual project being "officially denied" "Warhol" paintings authored by Lutz. Based on the full-length Elvis Presley paintings by Pop Artist Andy Warhol in 1964, this is likely one of his most iconic images, next to Campbell's Soup Cans and portraits of Jackie Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Liz Taylor, and Marlon Brando. This is the rarest of the Elvis works from the series, as Lutz sourced a vintage roll of 1960's primed artist linen which was used for this one Elvis. The silkscreen, like Warhol's embraced imperfections, like the slight double image printing of the Elvis image. Lutz received his BFA in Painting and Art History from Pratt Institute and studied Human Dissection and Anatomy at Columbia University, New York. Lutz's work deals with perceptions and value structures, specifically the idea of the transference of values. Lutz's most recently presented an installation of new sculptures dealing with consumerism at Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater House in 2022. Lutz's 2007 Warhol Denied series received international attention calling into question the importance of originality in a work of art. The valuation process (authentication or denial) of the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board was used by the artist to create value by submitting recreations of Warhol works for judgment, with the full intention for the works to be formally marked "DENIED" of their authenticity. The final product of this conceptual project is "Officially DENIED" "Warhol" paintings authored by Lutz. Later in 2013, Lutz went on to do one of his largest public installations to date. At the 100th Anniversary of Marcel Duchamp's groundbreaking and controversial Armory Show, Lutz was asked by the curator of Armory Focus: USA and former Director of The Andy Warhol Museum, Eric Shiner to create a site-specific installation representing the US. The installation "Babel" (based on Pieter Bruegel's famous painting) consisted of 1500 cardboard replicas of Warhol's Brillo Box (Stockholm Type) stacked 20 ft tall. All 1500 boxes were then given to the public freely, debasing the Brillo Box as an art commodity by removing its value, in addition to debasing its willing consumers. Elvis was "the greatest cultural force in the Twentieth Century. He introduced the beat to everything, and he changed everything - music, language, clothes, it's a whole new social revolution." Leonard Bernstein in: Exh. Cat., Boston, The Institute of Contemporary Art and traveling, Elvis + Marilyn 2 x Immortal, 1994-97, p. 9. Andy Warhol "quite simply changed how we all see the world around us." Kynaston McShine in: Exh. Cat., New York, Museum of Modern Art (and traveling), Andy Warhol: Retrospective, 1996, p. 13. In the summer of 1963 Elvis Presley was just twenty-eight years old but already a legend of his time. During the preceding seven years - since Heartbreak Hotel became the biggest-selling record of 1956 - he had recorded seventeen number-one singles and seven number-one albums; starred in eleven films, countless national TV appearances, tours, and live performances; earned tens of millions of dollars; and was instantly recognized across the globe. The undisputed King of Rock and Roll, Elvis was the biggest star alive: a cultural phenomenon of mythic proportions apparently no longer confined to the man alone. As the eminent composer Leonard Bernstein put it, Elvis was "the greatest cultural force in the Twentieth Century. He introduced the beat to everything, and he changed everything - music, language, clothes, it's a whole new social revolution." (Exh. Cat., Boston, The Institute of Contemporary Art (and traveling), Elvis + Marilyn 2 x Immortal, 1994, p. 9). In the summer of 1963 Andy Warhol was thirty-four years old and transforming the parameters of visual culture in America. The focus of his signature silkscreen was leveled at subjects he brilliantly perceived as the most important concerns of day to day contemporary life. By appropriating the visual vernacular of consumer culture and multiplying readymade images gleaned from newspapers, magazines and advertising, he turned a mirror onto the contradictions behind quotidian existence. Above all else he was obsessed with themes of celebrity and death, executing intensely multifaceted and complex works in series that continue to resound with universal relevance. His unprecedented practice re-presented how society viewed itself, simultaneously reinforcing and radically undermining the collective psychology of popular culture. He epitomized the tide of change that swept through the 1960s and, as Kynaston McShine has concisely stated, "He quite simply changed how we all see the world around us." (Exh. Cat., New York, Museum of Modern Art (and traveling), Andy Warhol: Retrospective, 1996, p. 13). Thus in the summer of 1963 there could not have been a more perfect alignment of artist and subject than Warhol and Elvis. Perhaps the most famous depiction of the biggest superstar by the original superstar artist, Double Elvis is a historic paradigm of Pop Art from a breath-taking moment in Art History. With devastating immediacy and efficiency, Warhol's canvas seduces our view with a stunning aesthetic and confronts our experience with a sophisticated array of thematic content. Not only is there all of Elvis, man and legend, but we are also presented with the specter of death, staring at us down the barrel of a gun; and the lone cowboy, confronting the great frontier and the American dream. The spray painted silver screen denotes the glamour and glory of cinema, the artificiality of fantasy, and the idea of a mirror that reveals our own reality back to us. At the same time, Warhol's replication of Elvis' image as a double stands as metaphor for the means and effects of mass-media and its inherent potential to manipulate and condition. These thematic strata function in simultaneous concert to deliver a work of phenomenal conceptual brilliance. The portrait of a man, the portrait of a country, and the portrait of a time, Double Elvis is an indisputable icon for our age. The source image was a publicity still for the movie Flaming Star, starring Presley as the character Pacer Burton and directed by Don Siegel in 1960. The film was originally intended as a vehicle for Marlon Brando and produced by David Weisbart, who had made James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause in 1955. It was the first of two Twentieth Century Fox productions Presley was contracted to by his manager Colonel Tom Parker, determined to make the singer a movie star. For the compulsive movie-fan Warhol, the sheer power of Elvis wielding a revolver as the reluctant gunslinger presented the zenith of subject matter: ultimate celebrity invested with the ultimate power to issue death. Warhol's Elvis is physically larger than life and wears the expression that catapulted him into a million hearts: inexplicably and all at once fearful and resolute; vulnerable and predatory; innocent and explicit. It is the look of David Halberstam's observation that "Elvis Presley was an American original, the rebel as mother's boy, alternately sweet and sullen, ready on demand to be either respectable or rebellious." (Exh. Cat., Boston, Op. Cit.). Indeed, amidst Warhol's art there is only one other subject whose character so ethereally defies categorization and who so acutely conflated total fame with the inevitability of mortality. In Warhol's work, only Elvis and Marilyn harness a pictorial magnetism of mythic proportions. With Marilyn Monroe, whom Warhol depicted immediately after her premature death in August 1962, he discovered a memento mori to unite the obsessions driving his career: glamour, beauty, fame, and death. As a star of the silver screen and the definitive international sex symbol, Marilyn epitomized the unattainable essence of superstardom that Warhol craved. Just as there was no question in 1963, there remains still none today that the male equivalent to Marilyn is Elvis. However, despite his famous 1968 adage, "If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings" Warhol's fascination held purpose far beyond mere idolization. As Rainer Crone explained in 1970, Warhol was interested in movie stars above all else because they were "people who could justifiably be seen as the nearest thing to representatives of mass culture." (Rainer Crone, Andy Warhol, New York, 1970, p. 22). Warhol was singularly drawn to the idols of Elvis and Marilyn, as he was to Marlon Brando and Liz Taylor, because he implicitly understood the concurrence between the projection of their image and the projection of their brand. Some years after the present work he wrote, "In the early days of film, fans used to idolize a whole star - they would take one star and love everything about that star...So you should always have a product that's not just 'you.' An actress should count up her plays and movies and a model should count up her photographs and a writer should count up his words and an artist should count up his pictures so you always know exactly what you're worth, and you don't get stuck thinking your product is you and your fame, and your aura." (Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again), San Diego, New York and London, 1977, p. 86). The film stars of the late 1950s and early 1960s that most obsessed Warhol embodied tectonic shifts in wider cultural and societal values. In 1971 John Coplans argued that Warhol was transfixed by the subject of Elvis, and to a lesser degree by Marlon Brando and James Dean, because they were "authentically creative, and not merely products of Hollywood's fantasy or commercialism. All three had originative lives, and therefore are strong personalities; all three raised - at one level or another - important questions as to the quality of life in America and the nature of its freedoms. Implicit in their attitude is a condemnation of society and its ways; they project an image of the necessity for the individual to search for his own future, not passively, but aggressively, with commitment and passion." (John Coplans, "Andy Warhol and Elvis Presley," Studio International, vol. 181, no. 930, February 1971, pp. 51-52). However, while Warhol unquestionably adored these idols as transformative heralds, the suggestion that his paintings of Elvis...

Original acrylic painting on canvas. Hand signed upper right by Peter Max. Canvas size: 48 x 60 inches Frame size: 58 x 70 inches. Dedicated and remarqued on verso by Peter Max. ...

Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Dan...

Original acrylic painting on canvas. Hand-signed in acrylic on front by Peter Max. Peter Max studio catalog number on canvas side. Canvas size 60 x 60 inches. Canvas is stretched....

Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Born in 1993 in...

Original and unique work by Russell Young. Enamel and diamond dust screen print on linen, Black + White, unframed dimensions 62 x 48 inches, 2011, from the series "Diamond Dust". Da...

Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Born in 1993 in...

One of the originators of the Western pop art movement, Billy Schenck incorporates techniques from photorealism with a pop art sensibility to both exalt and poke fun at images of the...

"Nude in Venice" - original large art by Paula Craioveanu Original, large, unique painting, oil on canvas, 55x40in / 140x102cm. Shipped rolled in a tube. Check 1stDibs code FREESHIP...

Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (Issued by the Gal...

Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Ola...

Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Eli...

Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Born in 1993 in...

There is a special kind of trust that exists between sisters—not just those bound by blood, but those connected by the unshakable bond of sisterhood. In a world that often feels chao...

The painting is about the human relationship between brothers and sisters, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. How they fought, stood, and supported each other with love, shari...

Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube. This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Elie HATUNGIMAN...

Acrylic on canvas figurative painting featuring a stylized humanoid portrait in crimson and turquoise tones, exploring fragmentation, memory, and constructed identity. Ancestor Clone...

'Maggie with Helmet' 2012 Oil on canvas Verso: Hand signed and dated on canvas. Dimensions: 24" h x 20" w. Frame: 25.5" h 21.5" w Provenance: Property of a Southampton, NY collection Richard Butler (Post-war and Contemporary artist) studied painting at the Epsom School of Art and Design (now University for the Creative Arts). In school he was exposed to radical developments taking hold in the artworld including Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, David Hockney and Francis Bacon and the emerging British pop art of Richard Hamilton and Peter Blake. He later turning to silkscreen printmaking. But like many famous rockers, from Keith Richards and Roger Waters to Tupac Shakur and Lady Gaga, Butler began making music in art school, and art was a passion that never went away. Shortly after graduating from the art school, in 1977, Richard Butler became a founder and singer/songwriter for the British post-punk / new wave rock and roll band "The Psychedelic Furs". Quickly gaining commercial success, his musical career kept him away from painting throughout the 80s and the 90s. In early 2000s, Richard Butler returned to painting and started exhibiting his art in the U.S. and Europe. He prefers to call himself a painter who sings, rather than a singer who paints. He was influenced by Anselm Kiefer and Francesco Clemente and became friends with Julian Schnabel. With his daughter, Maggie Mozart Butler, as his muse, he produces expressionistic portraits of pensive female subjects, who serve as ciphers for himself. As he describes, “In a way I think all of my paintings are self-portraits in that, though the face I am painting may not be my own, the feeling I get back from the painting is certainly an important element of my own psyche.” His work is a sort of dark moody expressionism with nods towards Lucien Freud. He lives and works in Connecticut. He has had solo exhibitions in New York City, Miami and Florence, Italy. One of his works, Girl with a Map, has been used as a CD's cover art. Selected Solo Exhibitions 2020 Richard Butler: Amnesiac Hostess, Waltman Ortega Fine Art, Miami, Florida, USA 2017 101/EXHIBIT, La Peer Drive, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA 2015 naturalhistory ,Freight+Volume (Allen St.) ,Lower East Side, New York, USA Selected Group Exhibitions 2025 Summer Sale, Galerie Olivier Waltman, Paris Saint-Germain, 6e, Paris, France The Rhythm. Vibratory Shock of Being, Galerie Olivier Waltman, Paris Marais...

Artist: Jack Graves III (American, 1988-) Title: "(Princess) Grace Kelly XI" Series: Icon *Signed by Graves lower left. It is also signed, titled, and dated on verso Year: 2025 Mediu...

She holds on to her integrity and purity. Lady in white captures a desire to be hidden, but her presence is revealed through her unquenched innermost beauty. Lady in white captures h...

In this painting, I've unleashed a vibrant fusion of reds to capture the raw and wild essence of a zebra. The intense hues symbolize vitality and passion, while the expressive stroke...

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'Lunch at Chez Louis', oil on canvas, by Roland Dubuc (circa 1970s). The outdoor terrace at restaurants and cafés in France goes back centuries as they have always been a gathering place for intellectuals to meet and debate philosophical issues; for the Avant Garde set to display their works; for artists to compare and exchange ideas and for writers to drown their sorrows over their artistic anguish or melancholy. Even the freedom fighters of the French Revolution and later the French Resistance would meet in cafés to plot their course. Regular people of course also enjoy these venues. A very delightful feature of these French institutions is that there is always room for quiet book readers, romantic couples, business meetings and lively groups of friends sharing a bottle of wine. The artist Dubuc captures a slice of this lovely aspect of French culture in this smile-inducing depiction painted in vivid oils. With a background of greenery, the patrons enjoy the outdoors protected from the intense sun by the table's parasols. Ah, the life. The artwork is in good vintage condition, is framed and signed by the artist in the lower left hand corner. Please enjoy the many photos accompanying this listing. Upon request a video may be provided. About the Artist: Roland DuBuc (1924-1998), French artist, the sixth of 13 children and son of a construction worker. The very precariousness of the family's financial situation forced him to go to work at the age of 14. In extreme poverty, he moved to Rouen where he was lodged by the Salvation Army. During that time he struck up friendships with several artists who gave him advice and taught him techniques of drawing. He moved to other cities later where he met painters including, among others, Fred Pailhès...

Contemporary figurative acrylic on canvas painting by Polish artist Joanna Woyda. Painting is in minimalistic, pop art style. The artwork depicts a girl standing on the shoreline, sh...

Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Gob...

She holds on to her integrity and purity. Lady in white captures a desire to be hidden, but her presence is revealed through her unquenched innermost beauty. Lady in white captures h...

French Mid Century Large Expressionist oil on canvas of two seated Provencale figures by Jean Arene. The painting is signed and dated bottom left. Painted when Arene was living in ...

Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (Issued by the Gal...

Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube. This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Elie HATUNGIMAN...

Shipping Procedure FREE Shipping Worldwide Ships in a well-protected tube. This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Josue M...

Contemporary figurative acrylic on canvas painting by Polish artist Joanna Woyda. Painting is in minimalistic, pop art style. The artwork depicts a boy standing in the water. He is v...

Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Gob...

In a world that often seeks to diminish the light of innocence, this artwork embodies the strength and resilience of those who remain steadfast in their beliefs. The subject of this ...

Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (Issued by the Gal...

The beauty of Africa lies in the faces of its people, a beauty that reveals itself to those who take the time to truly see. Through this artwork, I aim to showcase the rich and diver...

Original painting by Daria Kusto. 2024y. Acrylic on canvas. The magic flow reality... It is sent rolled in a tube, safe and express shipping to the whole world.

Joan Cruspinera Muñoz was born in 1945 in Tiana, Barcelona. This Catalan artist is a painter, draftsman and painter. His training is extensive and int...

Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube. This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Elie HATUNGIMAN...

Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube. This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. A difficult time can be more...

James Dean Smoking Cigarette Portrait Pop Art by British Urban Graffiti Artist, Chris Pegg. Chris Pegg is a self-taught Street Artist producing artwork with a strong social commentar...

Shipping Procedure FREE Shipping Worldwide Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authent...

Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Africa This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (Issued by the Gall...

Original acrylic painting on canvas. Hand signed and dated lower left by Peter Max. Artwork size: 48.25 x 58 inches. Canvas is stretched. Artwork is in excellent condition with...

Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected crater from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist A...

Opera espressionista ,sui blu e azzurri Edgardo CORBELLI (Torino, 1918 – 1989) Dal tradizionale impianto paesistico degli anni ‘30, la pittura di Corbelli sfocia in esiti tecnico-e...

Playing with the interaction between positive and negative space, strong colors on neutral backgrounds, Canadian artist Virginie Schroeder creates pop art portraits and iconic pop cu...

Ricardo Goyo was born in Barcelona in 1972. He began his artistic career studying in France at the National School of Fine Arts in Nice. There he had the opportunity to meet, work, a...

Shipping Procedure FREE Shipping Worldwide Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (Issued by the Gallery) In the arms of my owner, I find my peace. In their embrace, I find my home. Max in Loving Arms presents a singular blend of modernity and timeless elegance. At the centre of the composition is a poised woman, adorned in a vivid green dress that contrasts harmoniously against the soft purple backdrop. Her dark complexion radiates warmth and intensity, highlighted by her voluminous afro, a powerful symbol of natural beauty and cultural pride. Cradled tenderly in her arms is a fluffy, cream-coloured dog, its fur rendered with extraordinary detail, capturing both texture and softness. The dog’s gentle expression and relaxed posture evoke a strong sense of companionship and affection, adding an intimate layer to the portrayal. In the background, a minimalist line drawing framed...

There is a common thread that binds us all, and that is our shared humanity. Everyone has a general desire in their heart - to be seen, heard and understood. Each of us has dreams, f...

Tunde Bakare, a visionary artist with an uncanny ability to infuse profound emotions into his works, has risen to prominence for his powerful portrayal of marginalized voices and the...

This acrylic painting, part of Natasha Lelenco’s You Are the One series, features a vivid and surreal portrait of a central woman figure with a bright blue face, framed by sleek black hair, set against a luminous yellow background. The subject’s green lips add a bold contrast, drawing attention to the artwork’s vibrant color palette. Surrounding the figure, playful blue flowers and abstract shapes evoke an expressive, almost whimsical narrative, blending surrealist and naïve art styles. The canvas is characterized by its flat, saturated colors and dynamic floral patterns, which add depth and movement to the composition. This unique piece integrates elements of both figurative and decorative art, offering a lively exploration of identity and expression. The fluorescent quality of the colors creates a striking effect, although slight variations may appear in digital reproductions compared to the original work. Technical Details: Medium: Acrylic on canvas Dimensions: 55x55cm Year: 2024 Style: Surrealist, naïve, contemporary About the Series: You Are the One is Natasha Lelenco’s latest exploration of individuality and collective identity through vivid, surreal portraits. Each painting in the series incorporates bold colors, playful motifs, and flat compositions inspired by naïve art and folk traditions. The series is designed to function as standalone pieces or within multi-panel arrangements, allowing for installations tailored to various spaces and collections. Additional Information: This artwork is ideal for collectors seeking colorful, thought-provoking pieces that bring both energy and sophistication to their spaces. Special discounts are available for purchasing multiple works from the You Are the One series. Natasha Lelenco also accepts commissions, offering clients the opportunity to co-create personalized artworks. Keywords: surreal portrait, blue face painting...

The item is located in central London, United Kingdom. It is possible to ship this item stretched and framed. Please, feel free to contact us for further details. the item will ...

Elvis, Metallic Silver and Black Full Length Silkscreen Painting by Charles Lutz Silkscreen and silver enamel painted on vintage 1960's era linen with Artist's Denied stamp of the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board. 82" x 40" inches 2010 Lutz's 2007 ''Warhol Denied'' series gained international attention by calling into question the importance of originality or lack thereof in the work of Andy Warhol. The authentication/denial process of the [[Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board]] was used to create value by submitting recreations of Warhol works for judgment with the full intention for the works to be formally marked "DENIED". The final product of the conceptual project being "officially denied" "Warhol" paintings authored by Lutz. Based on the full-length Elvis Presley paintings by Pop Artist Andy Warhol in 1964, this is likely one of his most iconic images, next to Campbell's Soup Cans and portraits of Jackie Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Liz Taylor, and Marlon Brando. This is the rarest of the Elvis works from the series, as Lutz sourced a vintage roll of 1960's primed artist linen which was used for this one Elvis. The silkscreen, like Warhol's embraced imperfections, like the slight double image printing of the Elvis image. Lutz received his BFA in Painting and Art History from Pratt Institute and studied Human Dissection and Anatomy at Columbia University, New York. Lutz's work deals with perceptions and value structures, specifically the idea of the transference of values. Lutz's most recently presented an installation of new sculptures dealing with consumerism at Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater House in 2022. Lutz's 2007 Warhol Denied series received international attention calling into question the importance of originality in a work of art. The valuation process (authentication or denial) of the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board was used by the artist to create value by submitting recreations of Warhol works for judgment, with the full intention for the works to be formally marked "DENIED" of their authenticity. The final product of this conceptual project is "Officially DENIED" "Warhol" paintings authored by Lutz. Later in 2013, Lutz went on to do one of his largest public installations to date. At the 100th Anniversary of Marcel Duchamp's groundbreaking and controversial Armory Show, Lutz was asked by the curator of Armory Focus: USA and former Director of The Andy Warhol Museum, Eric Shiner to create a site-specific installation representing the US. The installation "Babel" (based on Pieter Bruegel's famous painting) consisted of 1500 cardboard replicas of Warhol's Brillo Box (Stockholm Type) stacked 20 ft tall. All 1500 boxes were then given to the public freely, debasing the Brillo Box as an art commodity by removing its value, in addition to debasing its willing consumers. Elvis was "the greatest cultural force in the Twentieth Century. He introduced the beat to everything, and he changed everything - music, language, clothes, it's a whole new social revolution." Leonard Bernstein in: Exh. Cat., Boston, The Institute of Contemporary Art and traveling, Elvis + Marilyn 2 x Immortal, 1994-97, p. 9. Andy Warhol "quite simply changed how we all see the world around us." Kynaston McShine in: Exh. Cat., New York, Museum of Modern Art (and traveling), Andy Warhol: Retrospective, 1996, p. 13. In the summer of 1963 Elvis Presley was just twenty-eight years old but already a legend of his time. During the preceding seven years - since Heartbreak Hotel became the biggest-selling record of 1956 - he had recorded seventeen number-one singles and seven number-one albums; starred in eleven films, countless national TV appearances, tours, and live performances; earned tens of millions of dollars; and was instantly recognized across the globe. The undisputed King of Rock and Roll, Elvis was the biggest star alive: a cultural phenomenon of mythic proportions apparently no longer confined to the man alone. As the eminent composer Leonard Bernstein put it, Elvis was "the greatest cultural force in the Twentieth Century. He introduced the beat to everything, and he changed everything - music, language, clothes, it's a whole new social revolution." (Exh. Cat., Boston, The Institute of Contemporary Art (and traveling), Elvis + Marilyn 2 x Immortal, 1994, p. 9). In the summer of 1963 Andy Warhol was thirty-four years old and transforming the parameters of visual culture in America. The focus of his signature silkscreen was leveled at subjects he brilliantly perceived as the most important concerns of day to day contemporary life. By appropriating the visual vernacular of consumer culture and multiplying readymade images gleaned from newspapers, magazines and advertising, he turned a mirror onto the contradictions behind quotidian existence. Above all else he was obsessed with themes of celebrity and death, executing intensely multifaceted and complex works in series that continue to resound with universal relevance. His unprecedented practice re-presented how society viewed itself, simultaneously reinforcing and radically undermining the collective psychology of popular culture. He epitomized the tide of change that swept through the 1960s and, as Kynaston McShine has concisely stated, "He quite simply changed how we all see the world around us." (Exh. Cat., New York, Museum of Modern Art (and traveling), Andy Warhol: Retrospective, 1996, p. 13). Thus in the summer of 1963 there could not have been a more perfect alignment of artist and subject than Warhol and Elvis. Perhaps the most famous depiction of the biggest superstar by the original superstar artist, Double Elvis is a historic paradigm of Pop Art from a breath-taking moment in Art History. With devastating immediacy and efficiency, Warhol's canvas seduces our view with a stunning aesthetic and confronts our experience with a sophisticated array of thematic content. Not only is there all of Elvis, man and legend, but we are also presented with the specter of death, staring at us down the barrel of a gun; and the lone cowboy, confronting the great frontier and the American dream. The spray painted silver screen denotes the glamour and glory of cinema, the artificiality of fantasy, and the idea of a mirror that reveals our own reality back to us. At the same time, Warhol's replication of Elvis' image as a double stands as metaphor for the means and effects of mass-media and its inherent potential to manipulate and condition. These thematic strata function in simultaneous concert to deliver a work of phenomenal conceptual brilliance. The portrait of a man, the portrait of a country, and the portrait of a time, Double Elvis is an indisputable icon for our age. The source image was a publicity still for the movie Flaming Star, starring Presley as the character Pacer Burton and directed by Don Siegel in 1960. The film was originally intended as a vehicle for Marlon Brando and produced by David Weisbart, who had made James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause in 1955. It was the first of two Twentieth Century Fox productions Presley was contracted to by his manager Colonel Tom Parker, determined to make the singer a movie star. For the compulsive movie-fan Warhol, the sheer power of Elvis wielding a revolver as the reluctant gunslinger presented the zenith of subject matter: ultimate celebrity invested with the ultimate power to issue death. Warhol's Elvis is physically larger than life and wears the expression that catapulted him into a million hearts: inexplicably and all at once fearful and resolute; vulnerable and predatory; innocent and explicit. It is the look of David Halberstam's observation that "Elvis Presley was an American original, the rebel as mother's boy, alternately sweet and sullen, ready on demand to be either respectable or rebellious." (Exh. Cat., Boston, Op. Cit.). Indeed, amidst Warhol's art there is only one other subject whose character so ethereally defies categorization and who so acutely conflated total fame with the inevitability of mortality. In Warhol's work, only Elvis and Marilyn harness a pictorial magnetism of mythic proportions. With Marilyn Monroe, whom Warhol depicted immediately after her premature death in August 1962, he discovered a memento mori to unite the obsessions driving his career: glamour, beauty, fame, and death. As a star of the silver screen and the definitive international sex symbol, Marilyn epitomized the unattainable essence of superstardom that Warhol craved. Just as there was no question in 1963, there remains still none today that the male equivalent to Marilyn is Elvis. However, despite his famous 1968 adage, "If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings" Warhol's fascination held purpose far beyond mere idolization. As Rainer Crone explained in 1970, Warhol was interested in movie stars above all else because they were "people who could justifiably be seen as the nearest thing to representatives of mass culture." (Rainer Crone, Andy Warhol, New York, 1970, p. 22). Warhol was singularly drawn to the idols of Elvis and Marilyn, as he was to Marlon Brando and Liz Taylor, because he implicitly understood the concurrence between the projection of their image and the projection of their brand. Some years after the present work he wrote, "In the early days of film, fans used to idolize a whole star - they would take one star and love everything about that star...So you should always have a product that's not just 'you.' An actress should count up her plays and movies and a model should count up her photographs and a writer should count up his words and an artist should count up his pictures so you always know exactly what you're worth, and you don't get stuck thinking your product is you and your fame, and your aura." (Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again), San Diego, New York and London, 1977, p. 86). The film stars of the late 1950s and early 1960s that most obsessed Warhol embodied tectonic shifts in wider cultural and societal values. In 1971 John Coplans argued that Warhol was transfixed by the subject of Elvis, and to a lesser degree by Marlon Brando and James Dean, because they were "authentically creative, and not merely products of Hollywood's fantasy or commercialism. All three had originative lives, and therefore are strong personalities; all three raised - at one level or another - important questions as to the quality of life in America and the nature of its freedoms. Implicit in their attitude is a condemnation of society and its ways; they project an image of the necessity for the individual to search for his own future, not passively, but aggressively, with commitment and passion." (John Coplans, "Andy Warhol and Elvis Presley," Studio International, vol. 181, no. 930, February 1971, pp. 51-52). However, while Warhol unquestionably adored these idols as transformative heralds, the suggestion that his paintings of Elvis are uncritical of a generated public image issued for mass consumption fails to appreciate the acuity of his specific re-presentation of the King. As with Marilyn, Liz and Marlon, Warhol instinctively understood the Elvis brand as an industrialized construct, designed for mass consumption like a Coca-Cola bottle or Campbell's Soup Can, and radically revealed it as a precisely composed non-reality. Of course Elvis offered Warhol the biggest brand of all, and he accentuates this by choosing a manifestly contrived version of Elvis-the-film-star, rather than the raw genius of Elvis as performing Rock n' Roll pioneer. A few months prior to the present work he had silkscreened Elvis' brooding visage in a small cycle of works based on a simple headshot, including Red Elvis, but the absence of context in these works minimizes the critical potency that is so present in Double Elvis. With Double Elvis we are confronted by a figure so familiar to us, yet playing a role relating to violence and death that is entirely at odds with the associations entrenched with the singer's renowned love songs. Although we may think this version of Elvis makes sense, it is the overwhelming power of the totemic cipher of the Elvis legend that means we might not even question why he is pointing a gun rather than a guitar. Thus Warhol interrogates the limits of the popular visual vernacular, posing vital questions of collective perception and cognition in contemporary society. The notion that this self-determinedly iconic painting shows an artificial paradigm is compounded by Warhol's enlistment of a reflective metallic surface, a treatment he reserved for his most important portraits of Elvis, Marilyn, Marlon and Liz. Here the synthetic chemical silver paint becomes allegory for the manufacture of the Elvis product, and directly anticipates the artist's 1968 statement: "Everything is sort of artificial. I don't know where the artificial stops and the real starts. The artificial fascinates me, the bright and shiny..." (Artist quoted in Exh. Cat., Stockholm, Moderna Museet and traveling, Andy Warhol, 1968, n.p.). At the same time, the shiny silver paint of Double Elvis unquestionably denotes the glamour of the silver screen and the attractive fantasies of cinema. At exactly this time in the summer of 1963 Warhol bought his first movie camera and produced his first films such as Sleep, Kiss and Tarzan and Jane Regained. Although the absence of plot or narrative convention in these movies was a purposely anti-Hollywood gesture, the unattainability of classic movie stardom still held profound allure and resonance for Warhol. He remained a celebrity and film fanatic, and it was exactly this addiction that so qualifies his sensational critique of the industry machinations behind the stars he adored. Double Elvis was executed less than eighteen months after he had created 32 Campbell's Soup Cans for his immortal show at the Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles in July and August 1962, and which is famously housed in the Museum of Modern Art, New York. In the intervening period he had produced the series Dollar Bills, Coca-Cola Bottles, Suicides, Disasters, and Silver Electric Chairs, all in addition to the portrait cycles of Marilyn and Liz. This explosive outpouring of astonishing artistic invention stands as definitive testament to Warhol's aptitude to seize the most potent images of his time. He recognized that not only the product itself, but also the means of consumption - in this case society's abandoned deification of Elvis - was symptomatic of a new mode of existence. As Heiner Bastian has precisely summated: "the aura of utterly affirmative idolization already stands as a stereotype of a 'consumer-goods style' expression of an American way of life and of the mass-media culture of a nation." (Exh. Cat., Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie (and traveling), Andy Warhol: Retrospective, 2001, p. 28). For Warhol, the act of image replication and multiplication anaesthetized the effect of the subject, and while he had undermined the potency of wealth in 200 One Dollar Bills, and cheated the terror of death by electric chair in Silver Disaster # 6, the proliferation of Elvis here emasculates a prefabricated version of character authenticity. Here the cinematic quality of variety within unity is apparent in the degrees to which Presley's arm and gun become less visible to the left of the canvas. The sense of movement is further enhanced by a sense of receding depth as the viewer is presented with the ghost like repetition of the figure in the left of the canvas, a 'jump effect' in the screening process that would be replicated in the multiple Elvis paintings. The seriality of the image heightens the sense of a moving image, displayed for us like the unwinding of a reel of film. Elvis was central to Warhol's legendary solo exhibition organized by Irving Blum at the Ferus Gallery in the Fall of 1963 - the show having been conceived around the Elvis paintings since at least May of that year. A well-known installation photograph shows the present work prominently presented among the constant reel of canvases, designed to fill the space as a filmic diorama. While the Elvis canvases...

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