When Karen Bystedt was an outgoing NYU photography student in the early 80's, she made a bold move and cold called Andy Warhol at Interview Magazine. Her request? For the pop artist to sit for a photography session for a project she was working on. He agreed to be photographed as a male model. Two weeks later, he met her in the conference room at The Factory. The resulting photographs became the subject of a dynamic art show.
But the story is not that simple and straightforward. The set of photographs from that rare session with Andy were lost for decades. Karen found and carefully restored the images, pixel-by-pixel.
Artist and photograher Karen Bystedt conceptualized making Andy Warhol into the art (as he did with famous figures of his time). Contemporary, fine and street artists layer the original photograph with paint, silk screens and more, forming their own interpretations. Some of the collaborating artists include Speedy Graphito, Bradley Theodore, Peter Tunney, Gregory Siff as well as artist/musician Chris Brown.
Bystedt's photographs are in the Andy Warhol Museum, the Astrup Fearnley Museum in Oslo, Norway and the private collection of the Hearst family, among other collections and institutions.
