Ca$h for your Warhol (or Banksy)

By Dadara on January 5, 2011

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“It’s part parody, part experiment, part commentary, part visual gag,” describes Geoff Hargadon of his work Cash for Your Warhol. The signs have generated many calls to the 24-hour hotline they advertise.

“I am indeed interested in consumerism, money, status, property, fame… they seem to have a disproportionately high place in our minds, and I like to take a jab at it now and then. It’s surprising to me how narrow the discussion is of these things in art – even though they are quite prominent in the art world. That provides a lot of opportunity to explore new ideas that haven’t been done before.” This quote comes from an interview of Geoff with the Groundswell Collective, you can read the whole interview here at the Groundswell Collective blog . (the same blog features a post about the Exchanghibition Bank project as well )

The Boston-based prankster Geoff Hargadon was previously best-known for his parody of Christo and Jean-Claude’s The Gates, consisting of miniature, homemade versions of the duo’s iconic orange structures, a project that was covered in the New York Times (images at not-rocket-science.com).  The “Cash for your Warhol ” signs have been manufactured by the same Texas-based company that makes the “Cash for Your House” signs.

And what’s the reaction, so far? “I have received a LOT of calls, most of them hang-ups (curiosity?), but a few have probably been real,” Hargadon emailed Artnet News. “I haven’t returned the calls yet cause I don’t know what to say to them quite yet. Would I buy a Warhol from them? Sure, but I haven’t figured out the pricing thing.”

But it hasnt stopped here: there’s a new sign now: “CASH for your BANKSY”, which makes you wonder if Geoff is not just trying to cash in on the originally great “CASH for your WARHOL” idea. Googling “cash for your Banksy” I stumbled upon this link , which announces that the sign will be released as a 2 color silk screen print. Will we be able to collect the whole series in the future? Including the “CASH for your HIRST” and “CASH for your KOONS” signs as well?

It could be interesting though if Geoff Hargadon would make a “CASH for your HARGADON” sign, since the success of the “CASH for your WARHOL” signs might have given his market value a boost. But what should we offer when we call the CASH-for-your-HARGADON hotline? It might be an idea to unscrew and remove an existing  “CASH for your WARHOL” sign and offer that on the hot-line: After all, to me those signs seem more valuable than the 2 color silk screen prints…….

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