Cooper finds lost Warhol artwork

AFTER a long career shocking audiences, even Alice Cooper has surprises. The glam rocker has discovered an Andy Warhol work that had been rolled up in storage for decades.

The red silkscreen piece, easily worth millions of dollars, adapts a printed image of an electric chair as part of the pop artist’s “Death and Disaster” phase in the 1960s.

Cooper, who befriended Warhol while living in New York, received Little Electric Chair as a gift but had not seen it since 1972 or 1973, the singer’s longtime manager Shep Gordon told AFP.

“Only in rock ’n’ roll can you not remember you have a Warhol!” Gordon said with a laugh.

Cooper – the pioneer of shock rock who puts on elaborate, macabre shows – was a heavy drinker in the 1970s, but Gordon said it was understandable he would forget about the artwork.

“It was a very different time. Andy wasn’t dead, his pictures weren’t valuable and Alice was headlining Madison Square Garden and tickets were $3.50,” he said.

Gordon said he recalled the piece several years ago at a dinner with an art dealer friend who mentioned the high price that a Warhol had fetched.

Cooper hunted and found Little Electric Chair, still rolled up, in a storage unit alongside old equipment.

Gordon said the 69-year-old Cooper, who actively tours, has not decided what to do with Little Electric Chair other than to have it properly framed.