Richard Prince

Richard Prince (b. 1949, Panama Canal Zone) has mined images from mass media, advertising, and entertainment since the late 1970s, redefining the concepts of authorship, ownership, and aura. In 1973, he moved to New York, where he worked at the Time-Life Building as a preparer of magazine clippings. During this time, he became familiar with Conceptual Art and realized the possibility of utilizing imagery from mass media, advertising, and entertainment in art. Prince’s practice began by taking the leftover magazine clippings from his job, then re-photographing and configuring them to spark various dialogues. The result was a deliberately artificial look that blurred the line between real and artifice and highlighted a keen interest in consumer culture. An avid collector and perceptive chronicler of American subcultures and vernaculars and their role in the construction of American identity, he has probed the depths of racism, sexism, and psychosis in mainstream humor; the mythical status of cowboys, bikers, customized cars, celebrities, pulp fiction, and soft porn.

Prince lives and works in Upstate New York. His work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions internationally, including the Louisiana Museum of Art, Humblebaek (2022); Museum for Modern Art, Weserburg (2021); Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (2019); Espace Cultural Louis Vuitton, Beijing; Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo (all 2018); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2017); Kunsthaus Bregenz (2014); Picasso Museum, Malaga (2012); Le Consortium, Dijon (2011); Serpentine Gallery, London (2008); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2008); Guggenheim Museum, New York (2007); Kunsthalle Zürich (2002); Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel (2001) and MAK, Vienna (2000), among others. The artist participated in the Biennale di Venezia in 2003 and 2007, and The Whitney Biennial in 1985, 1987, 1997, and 2004.

Source: Gagosian