BRILLO BOX (3¢ OFF)

BRILLO BOX (3¢ OFF)

    Price: $295.00

    Code: 2557

    Directed by Lisanne Skyler
    2017, 40 minutes
    Purchase $295 | Classroom rental: $125
    Optional closed captions

    Available for screenings. Please contact us at (212) 685-6242 for quote.

    In 1969, filmmaker Lisanne Skyler’s parents bought an Andy Warhol Brillo Box for $1,000. Exact replicas of the supermarket carton, Warhol’s Brillo Boxes were at first dismissed by the art world. But forty years later, in 2010, at the height of the recession, the same sculpture fetched $3,000,000 at a Christie’s auction. The HBO Documentary Film Brillo Box (3¢ off) follows the surprising journey of this sculpture as it travels from the Skylers’ living room to the global art market -- from the flashpoint of controversy to becoming an iconic art object — exploring how we navigate the ephemeral nature of value and value, and the decisions that shape family history.


    By tracking the forty-year journey of a single Warhol sculpture across different cultural and economic landscapes, Brillo Box (3¢ off) seeks to reframe the question of what is art, who -- or what -- determines its worth, and why it matters to our lives. Blending a playful and irreverent reassessment of Pop Art, with a richly evocative and touching family narrative, the film sparks a vital conversation about the value of art, while paying tribute to Andy Warhol, to all artists and to two parents who chose to share art with their children. 


    In addition to interviews with Martin and Rita Skyler, Brillo Box (3¢ Off) includes insights from high-profile names in the contemporary art world, including Laura Paulson (chairman, Americas at Christie’s), Jessica Todd Smith (Curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art), Irving Sandler (art critic and historian), and Eric Shiner (former director of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh).


    BRILLO BOX (3¢ OFF) was written, directed, and produced by Lisanne Skyler; editor, Jeanna French; producer, Judith Black. For HBO: supervising editor, Geof Bartz, A.C.E.; senior producer, Lisa Heller; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.



    Subjects & Collections



    Festivals & Awards

    Short List for Best Short Subject - 90th Oscar Academy Awards (2017)
    Documentary of the Week - WNYC 
    Official Selection – The 54th New York Film Festival 
    Official Selection – Aspen International Shortsfest
    Official Selection – Sheffield Doc/Fest, UK
    Official Selection – Provincetown International Film Festival 
    Official Selection – Florida Film Festival
    Official Selection – Big Sky Documentary FIlm Festival
    Official Selection – Portland International Film Festival
    Official Selection – Doc Edge Festival, New Zealand
    Official Selection – Traverse City Film Festival
    Official Selection – Napa Valley Film Festival
    Official Selection – Fog Art + Design, San Francisco
    WINNER – Audience Award, Door Kinetic Arts Festival



    Reviews

    "With a fun, disarming attitude‎ that surely Warhol himself would admire, Brillo Box (3¢ off) has‎ an ‎accessibility that few discussions of fine art ever do‎, easing into discussions about Warhol’s egalitarian beliefs about art and what can be classified as such that feel weighty without ever feeling academic." - The Moveable Fest

    "Make[s] you smile a little and give you a moment's pause to consider the value of things, the importance of memory and the relevance of art in our lives....you certainly will never see Andy Warhol’s 1964 work, ‘Brillo Boxes,’ in which he created replicas of shipping cartons, the same way again." - Salon.com

    "Acknowledges Warhol’s breakthrough thinking about the commercialization of fine art, the pretensions of commercial art, and what had become a near-imperceptible gap between them." - John Anderson, The Wall Street Journal

    "This lighthearted documentary intertwines the legacy of Andy Warhol’s “Brillo Box” with that of the family that bought one of the iconic sculptures for a meager $1,000... Ms. Skyler offers a personal, and laughable, take on a global phenomenon." - The New York Times

    "Skyler packs an incredible amount of information into a concise 40-minute film that will appeal to art aficionados and curious onlookers alike." - Artnet

    "We get to witness the ups and downs (mostly ups) of the global art market, we get to watch as perspectives on Warhol and his work have changed over the years, and (most intriguingly) we get to see how Warhol — self-described as a 'deeply superficial person' — created art that truly meant something to people, despite his best efforts." - The Boston Globe 

    "Witty and touching...the film offers a pertinent, even poignant, observation about the things we desire and acquire." - The San Francisco Chronicle 

    "Deftly weaves together photographs, interviews and observations about legacy and family, which makes her story (which is slightly heartbreaking) all the more poignant." - Film International 




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