Richard Prince made waves this fall when his Gagosian show unveiled a series of paintings appropriating Audrey Wollen, Sky Ferreira, and the other bright young artists comprising his Instagram feed. But it’s Prince’s new show, Richard Prince: Fashion (opening this week at Nahmad Contemporary), that explores the fashion-forward foundations of this re-use practice.
Back in 77, Prince worked in the tear sheet department at Time Life, where he clipped editorials for writers across the publisher’s eight titles. At the end of the day, he was left with heaps of advertisement scraps, which he began to collect, organize, and re-photograph as new works that subverted the images’ consumerist origins.
Taken between 82 and 84, Prince’s famous sartorial series plays with the era’s fashion advertisements, obscuring the subjects’ vision through sunglasses, visors, and this helmet situation we’re really into. For the first time, all nine of these images are shown together at Upper East Side gallery Nahmad Contemporary. The exhibition runs until April 18.
Credits
Text Emily Manning
Installation view of Richard Prince: Fashion at Nahmad Contemporary. Tom Powel Imaging, courtesy of the gallery