It’s The Andy Warhol Lottery, But You Don’t Know If You Won

In 1962, pop artist Andy Warhol released his now-iconic silkscreen paintings of Campbell’s Soup cans, as seen above. Like Campbell’s Soup itself, whether you like these are to taste, but there’s no arguing that both the soup and the paintings are notable parts of Americana. Warhol, for his part, became a star in the art world by the end of the 1960s and a household name shortly thereafter. As a result, all of his works — even the most simple pen-and-ink drawings — are now worth a small fortune. For example, pictured below is “Fairies,” a drawing Warhol scribbled in 1954.

In 2021, an group called MSCHF bought “Fairies” for $20,000. And that October, they sold it at a huge profit — $250,000. 

Well, only if you include the 999 fake copies they also sold that month.

MSCHF is a Brooklyn, NY-based art collective known for its creative destruction. In March 2021, for example, they partnered with rap star Lil Nas X to create “Satan Shoes,” a series of Nike sneakers with pentagrams and other satanic imagery added. (Nike sued MSCHF for trademark infringement and won, and MSCHF had to accept returns of the shoes, but it’s unlikely any purchasers wanted their money back.) In April 2020, they purchased a painting of 88 dots by artist Damien Hirst for $30,000, then hand cut each of the dots out of the canvas. MSCHF sold each of the dots, which they retitled “Severed Spots,” for $480, making a small profit — and then sold the spotless canvas (now titled “88 Holes”) for an additional $261,400.

The Warhol “Fairies” effort was more of the same. As CNN reported, “Dubbing the project ‘Museum of Forgeries,’ the group purchased an authentic 1954 Warhol pen drawing, titled “Fairies,” and then used digital technology and a robotic arm to recreate the artist’s exact strokes, before using heat, light and humidity to artificially age the paper.” MSCHF made 999 copies of the original and retitled all 1,000 “Possibly Real Copy Of ‘Fairies’ by Andy Warhol.” Then they mixed all 1,000 together, destroying any evidence of which of the 1,000 was the real Warhol. Or, in their own words: 

By forging Fairies en masse, we obliterate the trail of provenance for the artwork. Though physically undamaged, we destroy any future confidence in the veracity of the work. By burying a needle in a needlestack, we render the original as much a forgery as any of our replications.

And then, MSCHF offered all 1,000 for sale on their website at the much more affordable price of $250, each. From the collective’s perspective, the efforts to reproduce “Fairies” and destroy the provenance of the original was, in and of itself, a work of art — buyers of their “Possibly Real Copies” were buying that, not a chance at an original Warhol. As MSCHF stated on its website, “The entire performance of copying and selling is ours. Not 1000 identical artworks, but a single overarching piece with a thousand co-owners and co-participants.”

And apparently, many people agreed: MSCHF sold all 1,000 copies.

It’s unknown what Warhol himself would have thought of MSCHF’s efforts; the artist died in 1987. But many in the art world think he would have approved. As the Art Newspaper noted, “Given that Warhol embraced all things mass-produced, one wonders whether he would raise a milkshake to the new work.”

Bonus fact: Campbell’s Soup wasn’t too happy with Warhol’s paintings of their soup cans, at least at first. But they came around. As CNN reported, “a cease-and-desist order was considered. But in July of 1962, John T. Dorrance, Jr., the son of the inventor of condensed soup, had just taken over as chairman. He was a passionate art collector and well-established in the art world.” Four years later, Campbell’s approached Warhol with a partnership idea — per CNN, “Campbell invited consumers to send in a couple of can labels and $1.00 in exchange for a Warhol-designed dress made of paper.’“ The promotion proved popular and, if you were patient, profitable; the dresses now fetch thousands of dollars.

From the Archives: Lunar Art: There’s a little work of Warhol’s on the moon.