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Scottsdale gallery to auction rare Warhol painting

BY KRISTINE CANNON

Progress Staff Writer

For 40 years, Valley rocker Alice Cooper completely forgot he had a vibrant, red and black-hued acrylic Andy Warhol original rolled up and stored away in his garage.

It wasn’t until four years ago that he rediscovered the silkscreen – Warhol’s 1964 “Little Electric Chair” from his “Death and Disaster” series – thanks to the late actor Dennis Hopper. Now, Cooper is �inally putting the piece up for auction at Larsen Gallery and Larsen Art Auction in Old Town Scottsdale.

“This silkscreen was given to me during some crazy years, and I had completely forgotten I even owned it,” Cooper said.

The perfectly preserved painting will go for auction on Oct. 23 during the annual Fall Larsen Art Auction.

It’s estimated the piece is worth anywhere from $2.5 to $4.5 million; and if it sells for the latter, it will become the highest-selling painting in the state.

The painting that currently holds the title is a Thomas Moran painting that sold for $4.1 million at Scottsdale Art Auction in 2001.

According to Scott Larsen, co-owner of Larsen Gallery, “Little Electric Chair” was examined and authenticated by Richard Polsky, who has spent decades specializing in exhibiting, buying and selling paintings by the leading pop artists, including Warhol.

Larsen said he and wife-co-owner, Polly Larsen, were “thrilled” when they heard Cooper was considering their gallery for the sale. “We’re very con�ident that we can get it sold,” Scott said. “The art auction market is pretty hot right now. So, we’re very vocal. We’re going to give it our full, and we’re going to have fun doing it, too.”

Larsen Art Auctions have historically sold more than 90 percent of lots offered with registered bidders from most every state and more than 40 different countries.

For Cooper’s piece, the gallery will donate a portion of its commission to his nonpro�it Solid Rock Foundation, which offers support to local teenagers.

The piece spent a year at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

Cooper has Hopper, of “Easy Rider” fame, to thank for that.

“One day a few years ago, I was talking to Dennis Hopper who said he was selling a couple of his Warhols,” Cooper said. “I said, ‘Wait a minute, I think I have a Warhol somewhere.’”

So, Cooper went digging around, and there it was in his garage – in perfect condition.

“We took it out and had it looked at with the intention of displaying it,” Cooper continued. “But then I just decided it was time to move on, time to release it to the world. I �igured, I’d had it for all this time and had almost forgotten about it – let’s let someone else really enjoy it.” Cooper met Warhol in the early ‘70s while living in New York City. They became friends at the famous Max’s Kansas City, a nightclub and restaurant that served as a gathering place for musicians, poets, artists, and even politicians before shuttering in 1981. “It was just when I was becoming the scourge of rock n’ roll – and of course that attracted the whole Warhol crowd,” Cooper said. “It was a very surreal time.” Warhol, who would take photographs or make movies of friends, seemingly always had a crowd of people around him all the time, Cooper recalled.

“And my girlfriend Cindy Lang was really connected into that group,” he added.

Lang gifted Cooper “Little Electric Chair” when they lived in New York.

“Little Electric Chair” is based on a press photo from the 1950s of the death chamber at Sing Sing prison, where Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for conspiring with the Russians.

Warhol used source material from newspapers and police photo archives for his Death and Disaster series from 1964-65.

“I don’t have any emotional connection to it, to be honest with you,” Cooper said. “I mean, it was sitting in my garage for 30 years.”

For more information or to register to bid for the 2021 Larsen Art Auction, visit larsenartauction.com or call 480-941-0900.

Alice Cooper selected Larsen Gallery in Old Town to auction off his original 1964 Andy Warhol silkscreen. Gallery co-owner Scott Larsen, right, said he and wife and co-owner, Polly Larsen, are “thrilled” to be chosen. (Pablo Robles/Progress Staff Photographer) We took it out and had it looked at with the intention of displaying it. But then I just decided it was time to move on, time to release it to the world. I fi gured,

I’d had it for all this time and had almost forgotten about it – let’s let someone else really enjoy it.