Alice Cooper’s valuable Warhol on display Thursday at Scottsdale gallery

PHOENIX – A valuable Andy Warhol painting owned by Valley rock legend Alice Cooper, who will sell it this fall, will be on display Thursday night in Scottsdale.

The Larsen Gallery, which will auction off the work on Oct. 23, will show the acrylic and silkscreen on canvas piece titled “Little Electric Chair” from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

“We are excited to share this important Andy Warhol with the city of Scottsdale during the Thursday ArtWalk,” gallery owner Scott Larsen said in a press release.

“Alice wanted to be sure to give the public the opportunity to see the work in person before it is sold. Maybe we can even find local Alice Cooper fans to be bidders this fall.”

Some of the proceeds of the sale will go to Cooper’s Solid Rock Foundation, which supports Valley teens interested in music, art, dance, sound and video.

The foundation’s Sophie Dorsten will performer indie folk songs during Thursday night’s showing at the Larsen Gallery, located at 3705 N. Bishop Lane.

Want to get an up-close look at Alice Cooper’s Andy Warhol painting? Tonight’s your lucky night! Larsen Gallery will be open as part of tonight's @ScottsArtWalk from 5:30 to 7:30pm for a free public viewing of “Little Electric Chair” by Andy Warhol… (1/3) pic.twitter.com/mq7qEvzUkU

— Larsen Gallery (@LarsenGalleryAZ) June 24, 2021

Cooper was given the Warhol — a red and black image based on a photo from the chamber where convicted spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed
— as a birthday present while he lived in New York.

At some point he packed it up to move, and it remained in a protective tube for decades before he rediscovered it in his Scottsdale garage.

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

The piece has an estimated value of $2.5 million to $4.5 million and could become the most expensive painting ever sold in Arizona, according to the Larsen Gallery.

“I had it hanging in our apartment in New York City for a while,” said Cooper, who attended Cortez High School in Phoenix before cranking out hit songs like “School’s Out” and “No More Mr. Nice Guy.”

“Then we moved to Los Angeles, to Beverly Hills, and it was in a tube. I put it in a tube, with other art pieces and forgot about it for about 30 years.”

A conversation with actor Dennis Hopper, who died in 2010, reminded Cooper that he owned the Warhol.

“I went through the garage and went through all these tubes and pulled it out, and it was in perfect condition,” Cooper said.

Cooper said he’s selling it because although he collects art, mainly from local artists, he doesn’t collect Warhol.

“Little Electric Chair” – from the iconic pop artist’s 1964-65 “Death and Disaster” series — is part of the Fall Larsen Art Auction. Potential buyers can register online to make in-person, telephone or absentee bids.

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