Artist Paul Stephenson poses contentious questions of authorship with After Warhol series

A British artist has stirred up debate over creative authenticity and authorship with his series After Warhol. Subject of an upcoming documentary and exhibition, Paul Stephenson’s artworks use original Andy Warhol acetates, which he bought some years ago, and are printed by one of Warhol’s original screenprinters. Not only that, they use the same silkscreen inks, stretcher bars, canvas, everything the original artist would have used. “I’ve dotted my I’s and crossed my T’s,” says Paul, speaking to It’s Nice That, “because I wanted to follow the process as Warhol would have.”

Paul’s previous work has seen him investigate authorship as a concept in art, such as painting on top of 200-year-old oil paintings. “I like the idea that it’s almost DJing or sampling, but with painting,” Paul says. “Da Vinci said ‘no artwork is ever finished, just abandoned’, and perhaps it is there to be taken up and changed”. The After Warhol project represents six years of research, which began with Paul not knowing much about Warhol. He endeavoured to find out everything about the artist’s process, learning how Warhol enlarged found photo negatives to make the acetates before painting and embellishing them by hand. “Only Warhol worked on the acetates, whereas other people often printed them,” Paul notes.

The artist also spoke to experts and collaborators such as the Andy Warhol Museum and Alexander Heinrici, the printer he ended up working with on the series. Paul says Alexander was initially skeptical but eventually agreed to meet. “As soon as he saw the acetates he said ‘these are Andy’s’. He’d held them in his hands before, as he’d printed the Mao’s in the 70s,” explains Paul. “Then he totally opened up, it was a like a history lesson. I asked Alexander what I should do with them and he said ‘these were made for printing’.”

So Paul set about printing them as authentically to the original process as he could. Now, much discussion has ensued as to whether these are posthumous “original” Warhols. After all, Warhol himself would not have printed many of his iconic pieces, which now sell for millions, himself. Multiple printers would have used the acetates to produce the works. Paul himself doesn’t use this term, saying this was a “forced collaboration” as the original artist didn’t know about it. However he does comment that the concept of originality when it comes to Warhol’s works is blurry. “When [Warhol] had his first show in Stockholm at the Moderna Museet, it was too expensive to send prints so he sent the curator acetates to print from,” Paul says, and these are included in Warhol’s catalogue raisonné published by the Warhol Foundation. After Warhol died, the museum printed more, and these are also considered authentic by the Warhol Foundation – they are “posthumous Warhols”, much like Paul’s works. This presents a fascinating discussion particularly because of the huge value of “original” Warhols in its estate. If posthumously printed Warhols are considered in the same vein as those stamped “original” by the foundation, those with acetates would effectively have a license to print money, however very few people have them as 99% are held in the museum in Pittsburgh. The foundation has made no comment on Paul’s works.

Paul consulted Rainer Crone – one of the foremost experts on Warhol – who said they “should be considered part of Warhol’s oeuvre,” Paul says. ““I’m not saying they’re Warhols. I’m an artist and it’s not my job to say what something is. But Rainer had no financial interest in this, and it was a massive risk for him as his reputation was on the line. He believed Warhol intended this as a mechanical process. [Warhol’s] concept was that other people could make them. He was trying to make you question what is an original. He would’ve loved this conversation.”

Paul’s After Warhol series will be exhibited for sale for the first time in the UK at the Buy Art Fair from 27–29 October 2017 at Manchester Central – visit exhibitor Leon Martyn’s stand 235. The documentary will also be screened at the fair. Tickets available here.