Over the course of his career, Andy Warhol used a wide variety of mediums and technology to create new works of art. That includes forays into digital art before digital art was ubiquitous, including work created on a Commodore Amiga in the mid-1980s. Warhol’s collaboration with Commodore also included an event with Blondie vocalist Debbie Harry and a series of digital portraits of her — portraits which were then lost in the years that followed.
As Francesca Aton at ARTNews reports, both the portrait itself and a disk containing image files signed by the artist have been found in Delaware and are now on sale. Aton cites reporting from the New York Post, which did not provide more details on the location of the art or the asking price.
By Harry’s own account of the event, two copies of the digital portrait were made, of which she has one. As for the mystery of where the other one ended up, the solution is less left-field than one might expect. As Page Six reports, Warhol gave a print and the disk in question to Jeff Bruette, who worked for Commodore at the time and instructed him in the proper use of the Amiga. It’s Bruette who is now seeking a buyer for the portrait and disks.
“For just as long, any time someone has seen the portrait of Debbie hanging on my wall, or learned that I was ‘that guy who worked with Andy,’ especially after the recent explosion of NFTs and digital art, anyone who’s heard the story has been completely riveted,” Bruette told Page Six.
New Exhibit Revisits Andy Warhol’s Mercedes-Benz Collaboration
“Andy Warhol: Cars” is on display now at the Petersen Automotive MuseumThis isn’t the first time Warhol’s work on the Amiga will be in the spotlight. The Andy Warhol Museum hosted an exhibit focusing on this period in the artist’s career from 2017 through 2019. In 2021, the Andy Warhol Foundation also auctioned off five of Warhol’s works made using the Amiga as NFTs, which sparked some controversy at the time.
More Like This
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
