Who would have guessed that the packaging for Brillo soap pads would become the subject of a work of art so iconic it eventually sell for millions of dollars?
Andy Warhol’s famous Brillo Box sculpture is set to be the focus of a new HBO documentary, Brillo Box (3¢ Off) from Lisanne Skyler.
Andy Warhol and his Brillo Box sculpture is set to be the focus of a new HBO documentary by Lisanne Skyler.
The documentary runs for 40 minutes, featuring interviews with Warhol experts and a bunch of Warhol memoirs. Said to be a touching, personal take on the art market rather than on Warhol himself, the research behind the doco is in-depth, following the Brillo Box as it changes owners over time.
The documentary, titled Brillo Box (3¢ Off), focuses on the hype and crazy jump in prices in Warhol’s Brillo Box sculptures and with February 2017 marking the 40th anniversary of Warhol’s death, it’s interesting to see that a curiosity his work and its impact on art and popular culture continues to thrive.
Taking a more intimate approach to the documentary, Skyler draws knowledge from her art-collecting parents who have a long history of purchasing art from galleries in Manhattan. In 1969, Skyler’s parents purchased a Warhol Brillo Box for $1000, which has since been valued at $3.3 million as of 2010.
Warhol’s Brillo Box pieces were white in the brand’s blue and red colour scheme, with Skyler’s parents and a few others owning a rare yellow coloured box.
Skyler’s parents box was signed by Warhol himself and was only in their possession for two years, after being sold to Charles Saatchi in 1988. Surrounding the box’s life and reflecting decisions it has accumulated over the years, the documentary asks the questions, “What does this object really mean to us?”
[via Dazed Digital]
