Brillo Soap Pads Box (Primary Title)
Andy Warhol, American, 1928 - 1987 (Artist)
“The Pop artists did images that anybody walking down Broadway could recognize in a split second—comics, picnic tables . . . refrigerators, Coke bottle—all the great modern things that the Abstract Expressionists tries so hard not to notice at all.” —Andy Warhol
Warhol’s reproductions of commercial packing boxes mimic banal everyday objects. These wooden boxes, handmade to the exact dimensions of their cardboard prototypes, were painted light brown or bright white and silkscreened with appropriate logos. These sculptures are one example of the way Warhol eroded the boundary between commerce and fine art to make the two indistinguishable. Warhol’s 1964 exhibition at the Stable Gallery in New York crammed hundreds of these boxes into the space, in effect transforming the gallery into a supermarket warehouse.
[1] Accessioned May 20, 1994. See VMFA Curatorial file.
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