999 Warhols But a Real Copy Ain't One
Art

999 Warhols But a Real Copy Ain't One

Fresh off their latest scheme, which involved selling Chick Fil-A on a Sunday, Brooklyn art collective MSCHF is gearing up for their latest drop and if you're lucky you might just get the chance to snap up a Warhol on the cheap (if you can spot the real one, of course).

Having recently acquired a 1954 drawing by Andy Warhol titled "Faeries" worth about $20,000, MSCHF has created 999 forgeries to sell alongside the original all at the price of $250. Muddying the waters of authenticity by not telling buyers which of the 1,000 editions is the genuine article, the collective created their fakes using a robotic arm to replicate Warhol's pen strokes and an artificial aging process replicate the original.

"By forging (Warhol's drawing) en masse, we obliterate the trail of provenance for the artwork," MSCHF said in a statement. "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."

If they end up being successful in selling all of the drawings, which, considering that every prior MSCHF drop has handily sold out seems entirely likely, the collective stands to make twelve times their initial investment. According to MSCHF creative director, Kevin Wiesner, "it's always very funny to do pieces that are able to simultaneously spit in the art world's face, and also do what they're trying to do... which is use art as an investment vehicle... but better."

MSCHF's Museum of Forgeries are set to go on sale November 8 via the collective's website.

Photo via MSCHF