I SOLD ALICE COOPER'S ANDY WARHOL author Richard Polsky

Please join us Tuesday, November 3rd at 4:30pm at Garcia Street Books for a reading and conversation with Richard Polsky, author of I Sold Alice Cooper's Andy Warhol

At once propulsive and informative, an insider’s account of authentication and valuation that shows how the art world of the 1970s became the investment-driven art market of today.

In 1972, rock legend Alice Cooper received one of Andy Warhol’s classic Little Electric Chair paintings as a gift, unknowingly putting into motion a saga that would take fifty years to play out. Before going on tour, Cooper rolled up the canvas, slipped it into a cardboard mailing tube, stashed it in his garage in Scottsdale, Arizona, and then promptly forgot about it. At the time, the painting went for $2,500. Today, if proven authentic, it could be worth as much as $7 million.

Drawing on his distinguished career as an art dealer and expert authenticator, Richard Polsky brings a personal touch to this fascinating piece of art history. I Sold Alice Cooper’s Andy Warhol takes the reader on a long and winding road to validate and sell Cooper’s painting, which spans Polsky’s early years in the San Francisco gallery scene, the boom of corporate art collecting in the ’80s, the gritty, vibrant East Village of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, and the current state of the industry. Along the way, you will discover how authentication works, why it matters, and what it means for the high-stakes auction process. You will also learn about Andy Warhol, Alice Cooper and his manager Shep Gordon, Dennis Hopper, Richard Prince, and the cross-pollination between artists and musicians that shaped a creative heyday.

Richard Polsky is the author of two well-known books on Andy Warhol and the art market: I Bought Andy Warhol and I Sold Andy Warhol (too soon). The former was featured on NPR (interview with Renee Montagne) and the latter received a full review in the Wall Street Journal (by Alexandra Peers). Previously, he published The Art Market Guide, a series of books which evaluated the investment potential of blue-chip artists. In 1987, his San Francisco gallery Acme Art hosted just the second exhibition of Andy Warhol paintings in the history of the city, which opened only two days before he passed away. Richard Polsky has also participated on art authentication panels, including one sponsored by the State University of New York at Purchase, which covered such diverse artists as Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock.

Richard Polsky is also the author of The Art Prophets, which includes a chapter on “Street Art,” that features Jean Michel-Basquiat and Keith Haring. He has written about the financial aspects of each artist’s market in The Art Market Guide series.

Mr. Polsky got his start in the art world in 1978, as a gallery director, and eventually opened his own space, Acme Art, in 1984. Besides mounting a Warhol show, the gallery presented solo exhibitions of Ed Ruscha, Joseph Cornell, and the Outsider artist Bill Traylor. In 1988, he became a private art dealer — which he remains to this day.

Richard Polsky Art Authentication has been featured in over 200 international online publications and media outlets including: Time, Rolling Stone, The Smithsonian, The Guardian, The London Times, USA Today, the BBC, CNN, Fox News, etc. Richard has on occasion served as a consultant to the show Jeopardy as a reference source for their fact-checkers.