Alice Cooper Finds a Warhol Electric Chair in the Attic

A story has appeared in The Guardian about an unsigned Andy Warhol little electric chair owned by Alice Cooper but long forgotten among the rock stars personal effects.

The story seems more like an attempt by someone who claims to authenticate Warhol’s work to gain publicity. The interesting upshot of the story is that Alice Cooper changed his mind about selling the unsigned work. That suggests the authentication hasn’t been very successful.

Here’s the story of how Alice Cooper ended up owning a Warhol:

“It was back in 72 and Alice had moved to New York with his girlfriend Cindy Lang,” [Cooper’s manager Shep] Gordon told the Guardian. […]

Warhol went to see a concert in which Cooper feigned electrocution in a chair identical to the one in Warhol’s print.

Lang, a model and Interview magazine cover star who died in January at the age of 67, had the idea to approach the artist’s studio and purchase one of the 1964 canvases.

“As I recall,” Gordon said, “Cindy came to me for $2,500 for the painting. At the time Alice is making two albums a year and touring the rest of the time. It was a rock’n’roll time, none of us thought about anything. He ends up going into an insane asylum for his drinking and then leaves New York for LA.

The painting was then rolled up and stored for 45 years.

‘We found it rolled up in a tube’: Alice Cooper discovers Warhol classic after 40 years | Art and design  (The Guardian)