BRILLO BOXES

«Warhol's Brillo Boxes which are silk screened wood constructions, could also pass for the real cartons. But their effect is different from that of his two predecessors. Duchamp's dada gesture aimed to subvert every conventional esthetic and social value, his ready-made were anti-art. Conversely John's works possess the patina of high-art: his masterly hand is felt in all of them. However Warhol's fabrication do not in the 1960's act to decry the absurdity of established institutions. Instead they express an existential point of view: a sense of the utter futility of being creative at all. Therefore unlike John's objects, artistry is unimportant: the distinction between art and non art is of no account»

Irving Sandler
The New Cool Art
Art in America
Number One 1965 p.100