Exhibition Prince

Saw Richard Prince's Spiritual America at the Guggenheim...

I'm a fan, the pilgrimmage groupie appropriating scavenging kind, but instead of repeating all of the history and good things you can read elsewhere, I'm just gonna list some of the stuff that stuck out -

The big revelation for me at this show is the use of the exhibition print. Every other piece on the ramp is a photograph, and probably two thirds of those are exhibition prints... meaning that as soon as this show is over they will be removed from their frames and slashed with a razor.

(UPDATE -not slashed...)

All of those photographs that are labeled something like "title, date, edition of two, exhibition print" means that what you are looking at is a third print made specifically for the exhibition. The two originals are somewhere in the world - in a museum, a collection, a storage facility - and it is easier and cheaper to just make a new print for the show than to try to arrange for loans and shipping. I guess for a Richard Prince show this is perfect.

other things that stood out -

Woodstock photo - one of the photos in the show is a photo taken at Woodstock, supposedly by a young Richard Prince. The label includes text written by Prince sharing that he went to Woodstock with only one exposure left on his roll of film, so he decided to just randomly snap a photo rather than try to get some great shot. Is any of that true? Who knows...

related - an entirely fictional "1967" interview with J.G. Ballard.

Giant white (cast) truck tire planter, on white base - didn't get. Something you walk by without looking at on the way to the ramp, and look down on later and think "why?". Might be the lamest Matthew Barney fan art not yet on Cremaster Fanatic.

Untitled (publicity), 2003, Five publicity photographs and text, framed, The Frank Cohen Collection - Each of the five star photos includes text with his/her name printed beneath it, with Gina Gershon misspelled as "Girshon". It really stuck out, not like something deliberate, but, I guess it doesn't matter (?) -

"All successful artists produce two classes of object: their ambitious, serious efforts, generally snapped up by museums or You Know Who, and "edition"-type pieces that are really souvenirs of the major ones. When Cohen buys serious artists, these are the works he buys: little pieces that don't matter..."

De Kooning paintings - poorstarvingartdealer was right... he's a natural... really liked these. Watch the VBS.TV link below to see how he makes them.

(sorry, poorstarvingartdealer has hidden her blog from the world)

Virginia Prince check painting - one of the check/joke paintings seems oddly personal. It pairs two carefully isolated checks, apparently monthly payments for something and made out to Mrs. Virginia Prince, with one of the mother jokes with the "you fucking bitch you ruined my life" punchline.

Virginia Prince the transgender pioneer? That would explain A LOT haha. Virginia Prince fathered a son in the 1940's and "Prince's dates are not always clear and do not always make sense". It's too good to be true!!

SPECIAL BONUS!

NY Public Radio, Prince making conversation at Guggenheim opening - he says his parents had a magazine called Vague. That must have been after they got out of the CIA.

These are awesome! VBS.TV visits Prince at home and in the studio, in four parts, parts 3 and 4 are forthcoming -

VBS.TV, Richard Prince, part 1 0f 4 - pause it at the 40 second mark, compare it to this photo, and then tell me again that no hoods were in the Second House fire.

VBS.TV, Richard Prince, part 2 0f 4 - Prince talks about and shows how he made the de Kooning paintings... filmed last winter.