On the top floor of the Beverly Center far from the white walls of Chelsea and the museum hush of Midtown BLVKBOOK is bringing the spirit of The Factory back to life. But this time, it’s not in a converted warehouse on East 47th Street. It’s in Los Angeles. It’s layered with street culture, fashion, sound, and soul. And it’s led by the vision of Karen Bystedt, a photographer and artist whose work with Andy Warhol continues to ripple through time.
The exhibition, titled The Lost Warhols, is more than just an homage. It’s a living archive, a remix, and a call to reimagine the way legacy works in today’s creative landscape.
Karen Bystedt’s Story
Karen Bystedt’s story begins in the early 1980s, when she was a bold NYU film student with an eye for icons and the confidence to chase them. She reached out directly to Warhol, requesting a portrait session for a book she was creating on male models. To her surprise, Warhol said yes. The shoot happened at The Factory. There, Karen captured over 36 black-and-white images of Warhol in a rare, vulnerable state. No wig, no entourage, just the man behind the myth.
The negatives were misplaced and forgotten for decades. Warhol, in his own lifetime, had predicted a future where everyone would be famous for fifteen minutes. But what Bystedt did was the opposite. She returned him to cultural relevance not as a fossil, but as a figure reimagined for the now.
The Remix: Collaborating Across Time
What began as archival revival quickly evolved into a collaborative art movement. Karen invited other artists to reinterpret her portraits, layering their voices over Warhol’s image. These included painters, muralists, photographers, and even musicians. The result is a body of work that speaks fluently in the language of modern art, street aesthetics, and cultural remixing.
Collaborators have included some of the most influential artists of the moment. From Retna’s calligraphic abstraction to Cryptik’s meditative motifs. From Peter Tunney’s bold typographic affirmations to Chris Brown’s visceral visual storytelling. Each reinterpretation is distinct. Yet they all orbit the same gravitational pull: Warhol as a vessel, Bystedt as the medium, and the new artists as cultural translators
This process of creative layering echoes the way Warhol worked at The Factory. He invited others to participate, contribute, and shape the final result. Bystedt’s project is not just about preserving Warhol. It is about democratizing his image, re-contextualizing his presence, and continuing the collaboration across decades.
BLVKBOOK: The Factory 2.0
At BLVKBOOK, these works have found their most fitting home yet. It is a hybrid space where retail, art, fashion, and editorial storytelling converge. Located in a retail landmark but functioning like a creative think tank, BLVKBOOK feels less like a traditional art show and more like a cultural residency you walk into.
The Lost Warhols here are presented not just on walls but in immersive displays, pop-up retail concepts, collectible drops, and interactive installations. These invite the viewer to do more than just observe. They ask you to participate in the story. Much like The Factory once did for Warhol’s inner circle, BLVKBOOK invites today’s artists and audiences to blur the lines between consumer and creator, between muse and maker.
This is not nostalgia—it’s continuation. A Factory 2.0, built on new platforms, new values, and a new generation of artists who understand that owning your image is power.
Legacy Rewritten, Culture Reclaimed
Karen Bystedt’s vision is both personal and universal. She didn’t just rediscover lost negatives; she discovered a format for collaboration that spans time. Through The Lost Warhols, she extends a dialogue between past and present, between icons and innovators. Warhol may have started the sentence, but Bystedt and her collaborators are finishing it with exclamation points, brush strokes, tags, textures, and bold reinvention.
And BLVKBOOK? It’s the perfect amplifier for that message. Here, art lives out loud. The gallery is not a container it’s a catalyst. For legacy. For ownership. For community. For vibe.
The Lost Warhols are on view now at BLVKBOOK inside the Beverly Center, Los Angeles. Visit blvkbook