Karen Bystedt  / Andy Warhol Lives

 

 

Karen Bystedt, founder and photographer of The Lost Warhols brings to life one of the greatest art icons of the twentieth century. Shot at ‘The Factory’ in New York City, Bystedt was a student at NYU, working on a book on the top male models of the era, when she cold called Andy Warhol. Andy himself answered the phone and agreed to a rare sitting with Bystedt in the conference room at ‘The Factory’.

Bystedt went on to publish four books. Having found the negatives in 2011, long lost since the initial shoot in 1982, in Andy’s spirit, Bystedt has began collaborating with some of the great artists in the street and pop art genres of today including Peter Tunney, Speedy Graphito, Gregory Siff, Dom Pattinson, Annie Preece and Chris Brown.

Permanent collections of the Lost Warhols may be found at The Andy Warhol Museum, the Armenian Museum of Modern Art, the Hearst Foundation, the Lourdes Foundation and in the private collections of Prince Albert of Monaco, Tomoasso Buti, George Lopez, David Caruso and the Dean Collection (Swizz Beats) among others. Bystedt has created large-scale murals in Los Angeles, California as well as Houston, Texas.