richard prince: the perfect art crime
He was born near the Panama Canal because his parents were
working for “the government of the U.S.”. At least, that’s what
Richard Prince says. We don’t know if that’s true or whether it’s
another of Richard Prince’s self-promotional artistic statements.
In fact, it doesn’t matter. Because Prince has spent his whole
life blurring the boundary between invention and theft, original
and copied art. And, more than the truth or lies, that’s what
makes his life and his work interesting.
Richard Prince is a double artist. He has become an artist
by stealing from other artists. Nowadays, having become an
artist featured in the media, you could say that he’s become
part of mainstream contemporary art. Even so, his artists’
“jokes” have lost none of their coherence. His recent work
has been making exact copies of unknown artists’ work,
signing them in his own name and then selling them - at a
high price. Once more, Richard Prince has thrown petrol on
the fiery debate about property rights on original works and
copies of them.
Throughout his career, Prince has made others’ work his own
and addressed the concept of the original and the copies. In
1975, along with several other photographers, he invented the
concept of “rephotograph” and presented his work Entitles
(Cowboy). He photographed a famous tobacco company’s
adverts’ photos of cowboys, signed them in his own name and
presented them as his own work. He then did the same thing
with Spiritual America, photographing other photographers’
work and showing the results in an exhibition of his own. In
his work Gangs, instead of stealing photographs directly he
created images and situations which were iconic in themselves.
His best known work, Girlfriends, is about the iconography of
motorbike riders’ girlfriends and bikes. In his project Celebrities,
he used copyright-free promotional pictures of actors and other
famous people. In his series Nurse paintings, he changed
women on the covers of old magazines into nurses and his
Check paintings showed false checks signed by famous people.
In Car hoods he used cars’ attractiveness to turn exhibition
rooms into car salerooms. In Jokes he turned jokes into works
of art. He took jokes which don’t actually have owners, and
which belong to all of us, signed them in his own name and
made use of them ... Don’t companies and multinationals do
the same thing with nature, languages, colour, images, sounds
and thousands of other things and ideas?
Richard Prince has given us innumerable things to reflect on
in connection with his work and his career: originals, copies,
ownership, rights, getting hold of things ... And his artistic
carer (and its worth) are connected with those reflections,
and the accusations, trails and favourable and unfavourable
sentences he has received over the years have become an
indivisible part of his art. He has managed to make law and
justice part of his work.
Another side to Prince’s work is his collecting. As his work
is based on other people’s, he has managed to build up an
incredible collection over the years. He uses auctions or the
web to get hold of the photographs he reuses, magazines and
famous people’s checks. He’s a compulsive-obsessive collector.
And fate’s on his side. Otherwise it wouldn’t be possible to
understand the joke he weaved together in 2007. After living in
New York for 25 years he went to live in a small up-state town.
He sold his Second House museum and his whole collection
to the Guggenheim Foundation. A few months later, lightning
struck his house and the whole collection was converted into
ash. Prince moved back to New York before the end of the
year, and he probably had the look on his face of a person
who’s managed to pull off a perfect crime.
working for “the government of the U.S.”. At least, that’s what
Richard Prince says. We don’t know if that’s true or whether it’s
another of Richard Prince’s self-promotional artistic statements.
In fact, it doesn’t matter. Because Prince has spent his whole
life blurring the boundary between invention and theft, original
and copied art. And, more than the truth or lies, that’s what
makes his life and his work interesting.
Richard Prince is a double artist. He has become an artist
by stealing from other artists. Nowadays, having become an
artist featured in the media, you could say that he’s become
part of mainstream contemporary art. Even so, his artists’
“jokes” have lost none of their coherence. His recent work
has been making exact copies of unknown artists’ work,
signing them in his own name and then selling them - at a
high price. Once more, Richard Prince has thrown petrol on
the fiery debate about property rights on original works and
copies of them.
Throughout his career, Prince has made others’ work his own
and addressed the concept of the original and the copies. In
1975, along with several other photographers, he invented the
concept of “rephotograph” and presented his work Entitles
(Cowboy). He photographed a famous tobacco company’s
adverts’ photos of cowboys, signed them in his own name and
presented them as his own work. He then did the same thing
with Spiritual America, photographing other photographers’
work and showing the results in an exhibition of his own. In
his work Gangs, instead of stealing photographs directly he
created images and situations which were iconic in themselves.
His best known work, Girlfriends, is about the iconography of
motorbike riders’ girlfriends and bikes. In his project Celebrities,
he used copyright-free promotional pictures of actors and other
famous people. In his series Nurse paintings, he changed
women on the covers of old magazines into nurses and his
Check paintings showed false checks signed by famous people.
In Car hoods he used cars’ attractiveness to turn exhibition
rooms into car salerooms. In Jokes he turned jokes into works
of art. He took jokes which don’t actually have owners, and
which belong to all of us, signed them in his own name and
made use of them ... Don’t companies and multinationals do
the same thing with nature, languages, colour, images, sounds
and thousands of other things and ideas?
Richard Prince has given us innumerable things to reflect on
in connection with his work and his career: originals, copies,
ownership, rights, getting hold of things ... And his artistic
carer (and its worth) are connected with those reflections,
and the accusations, trails and favourable and unfavourable
sentences he has received over the years have become an
indivisible part of his art. He has managed to make law and
justice part of his work.
Another side to Prince’s work is his collecting. As his work
is based on other people’s, he has managed to build up an
incredible collection over the years. He uses auctions or the
web to get hold of the photographs he reuses, magazines and
famous people’s checks. He’s a compulsive-obsessive collector.
And fate’s on his side. Otherwise it wouldn’t be possible to
understand the joke he weaved together in 2007. After living in
New York for 25 years he went to live in a small up-state town.
He sold his Second House museum and his whole collection
to the Guggenheim Foundation. A few months later, lightning
struck his house and the whole collection was converted into
ash. Prince moved back to New York before the end of the
year, and he probably had the look on his face of a person
who’s managed to pull off a perfect crime.
