ANDY WARHOL | YOU'RE IN

Lot Closed

March 7, 05:15 PM GMT

Estimate

40,000 - 60,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

ANDY WARHOL

1928 - 1987

YOU'RE IN

signed with the artist’s initials on two bottle caps and dated 10 JUN 1966 on two bottle caps

24 glass Coca-Cola bottles, spray paint, metal bottle caps and printed tape with accompanying found wood and metal box

Each: 2¼ by 2¼ by 8 in. (5.7 by 5.7 by 23 cm.)

Overall: 12 by 18½ by 8¼ in. (30.5 by 47 by 21 cm.)

Executed in 1967.

This work is in very good condition overall. There is general wear, pigment loss and scratches to the bottles, visible upon close inspection. There is general wear to the wooden box, most of which is inherent to the nature of being a found object.

The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The condition report is provided to assist you with assessing the condition of the lot and is for guidance only. Any reference to condition in the condition report for the lot does not amount to a full description of condition. The images of the lot form part of the condition report for the lot provided by Sotheby's. Certain images of the lot provided online may not accurately reflect the actual condition of the lot. In particular, the online images may represent colours and shades which are different to the lot's actual colour and shades. The condition report for the lot may make reference to particular imperfections of the lot but you should note that the lot may have other faults not expressly referred to in the condition report for the lot or shown in the online images of the lot. The condition report may not refer to all faults, restoration, alteration or adaptation because Sotheby's is not a professional conservator or restorer but rather the condition report is a statement of opinion genuinely held by Sotheby's. For that reason, Sotheby's condition report is not an alternative to taking your own professional advice regarding the condition of the lot.

Brimfield Antiques

Private Collection, Sweden

Acquired from the above by the present owner

Obsessed with celebrity, consumer culture, and mechanical (re)production, Pop artist Andy Warhol created some of the most iconic images of the 20th century. His best known works include his silkscreen paintings Campbell’s Soup Cans, Marilyn Diptych, Mao, Double Elvis, and Green Coca-Cola Bottles. The present work is reminiscent of a Duchampian readymade, albeit with Warhol flair. Here, he spray-paints twenty-four Coca-Cola bottles – both the color silver and the consumer good itself instantly recognizable motifs within his oeuvre – and presents them within an original carton.

Of this body of work, the Andy Warhol catalogue raisonné states: “Warhol’s contribution [to the Museum of Merchandise’s exhibition] was identified…as toilet water named You’re In. However, it had to be discontinued soon after, when the Coca-Cola Company learned that Warhol was using their bottles. He might have spray painted them with his signature silver color, but the design of the bottle that Warhol was using to merchandise another fluid was legally Coca-Cola’s brand. Worse, Warhol was packing the silver bottles in appropriated Coca-Cola crates. The obvious pun on the name, You’re In, has lent Warhol’s work an aura of notoriety. However, it is worth noting that the bottles’ fluid contents were not urine at all but the inexpensive scent ‘silver lining’ by Cassell.” (Georg Frei and Neil Printz, eds., The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné: Paintings and Sculptures 1964-1969, Vol. 02B, 2004, p. 280)