Copyright ©
Richard Prince
or applicable right holders.
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Since Richard Prince began appropriating fragments of contemporary visual culture in the late 1970s, closely associated with the Pictures Generation, he has drawn from diverse visual worlds, creating a multifaceted body of work that is primarily unified by appropriation as an artistic method. By extracting material from advertising, pop culture, or the works of other artists and making it an element of his own work, Prince questions the mechanisms and protocols of the socioeconomic systems from which it originally emerged.
For his third Texte Zur Kunst edition in 2024, Prince chose one of his "Black Bra" paintings, whose canvases are covered in lingerie. The motif of the black bra has recurred frequently in Prince's work recently, including in his latest series of Instagram screenshots, the "New Portraits," which depict influencers painting while clad only in black underwear. Prince's series highlights the back view as a particularly popular pose for social media impact. Each post is accompanied by commentary, a mix of (auto)biographical and art historical notes that forms an essential component of the work. The author is Joan Katz (handle joankatzz), with whom Prince supposedly founded a band called Black Bra in 1990. "Supposedly," because he subverts principles like authorship and originality not only through the appropriation of visuals, but also through the manipulation of identities and myths, which are as fundamental to "fame" in art and pop culture as iconic images. The motif of the "Untitled (Black Bra)" edition also graces the cover of the issue from Prince's Fulton-Ryder imprint dedicated to "New Paintings."
Since Richard Prince began appropriating fragments of contemporary visual culture in the late 1970s, closely associated with the Pictures Generation, he has drawn from diverse visual worlds, creating a multifaceted body of work that is primarily unified by appropriation as an artistic method. By extracting material from advertising, pop culture, or the works of other artists and making it an element of his own work, Prince questions the mechanisms and protocols of the socioeconomic systems from which it originally emerged.
For his third Texte Zur Kunst edition in 2024, Prince chose one of his "Black Bra" paintings, whose canvases are covered in lingerie. The motif of the black bra has recurred frequently in Prince's work recently, including in his latest series of Instagram screenshots, the "New Portraits," which depict influencers painting while clad only in black underwear. Prince's series highlights the back view as a particularly popular pose for social media impact. Each post is accompanied by commentary, a mix of (auto)biographical and art historical notes that forms an essential component of the work. The author is Joan Katz (handle joankatzz), with whom Prince supposedly founded a band called Black Bra in 1990. "Supposedly," because he subverts principles like authorship and originality not only through the appropriation of visuals, but also through the manipulation of identities and myths, which are as fundamental to "fame" in art and pop culture as iconic images. The motif of the "Untitled (Black Bra)" edition also graces the cover of the issue from Prince's Fulton-Ryder imprint dedicated to "New Paintings."