You may remember my previous post questioning the ethics of selling a Warhol depicting Michael Jackson immediately following Jackson’s death.  Well, perhaps others felt queasy, too, because the auction might have been a big fat flop: Vered Gallery isn’t releasing the exact sale figure of the painting, saying it’s “over $1 million,” and it was sold to a speculator, not an art collector or institution.  Considering previous Warhol sales figures of $28 million and $71 million were slapped all over the Gallery’s website, a sale in the $1 to, say, $3 million dollar range is a bit embarrassing.  Could it be karma?

I get it: celebrity, rarity, marketing opportunity.  What I don’t get is why the East Hampton gallery auctioning off what is likely to be a $25 million+ piece of art (and is undoubtedly an American cultural treasure) has a website that looks cheaper than my free WordPress blog.

Here‘s the BBC coverage.  Happy weekend, people!