Richard Prince: Four Blue Cowboys, Rome, June 20–September 6, 2008

Works Exhibited

Richard Prince The Blue Cowboys, 1999. 4 Ektacolor photographs, 59 ¼ × 83 ¼ inches framed each (150.5 × 211.5 cm), edition of 2 — Richard Prince
*The Blue Cowboys*, 1999
4 Ektacolor photographs, 59 ¼ × 83 ¼ inches framed each (150.5 × 211.5 cm), edition of 2

Thumbnail - Richard Prince The Blue Cowboys, 1999. 4 Ektacolor photographs, 59 ¼ × 83 ¼ inches framed each (150.5 × 211.5 cm), edition of 2

About

I'm interested in what some of these images imagine... most of the time, what's represented is just wishful thinking. I'm interested in wishful thinking.
—Richard Prince

Gagosian Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of Richard Prince's photographic series, Four Blue Cowboys.

An avid collector and perceptive chronicler of American subcultures and vernaculars and their role in the construction of American identity, Prince has probed the mythical status of cowboys, bikers, customized cars, and celebrities; the push-pull allure of pulp fiction and soft porn; and the depths of racism, sexism, and psychosis in mainstream humor—producing such unlikely icons as the highly coveted Joke and Nurse paintings.

Prince has been mining images from mass media, advertising and entertainment since the late seventies when he worked in the tear-sheet department at TIME/LIFE in New York. Through "re-photographing" magazine ads—by cropping, removing any ad copy, or reshooting black and white images on color film—from jewelry, furniture, and models to the cowboys of Marlboro Country, he redefined the concepts of authorship, ownership, and aura. Applying his understanding of the complex transactions of representation to the making of art, he evolved a unique signature filled with echoes of other signatures yet that is unquestionably his own.

Artist

Richard Prince

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From the Quarterly

Helter Skelter: Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince

Helter Skelter—an exhibition at Fondazione Prada’s Venetian venue, Ca’ Corner della Regina—marks the first creative dialogue between two visionaries of American art, Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince. The show explores the grit, grift, violence, and ingenuity of American culture through more than fifty works, including photography, video, and large-scale installations that interrogate themes of race, gender, media, and politics. In the interview below, Nancy Spector, the exhibition’s curator, speaks about the shared motifs—from apocalyptic sunsets to a fascination with “monstrosity”—that led her to pair these artists for the first time.

Rollin’ High and Mighty Traps: Richard Prince

Sydney Stutterheim traces the linkages and affinities between the work of Richard Prince and that of Bob Dylan. Using Prince’s Untitled (Dylan) as a starting point, she considers the artist’s enduring interest in questions of originality and authorship, as well as his sustained relationship with the worlds of American music and counterculture.

Picture Books: Percival Everett and Brandon Taylor

The second installment of Picture Books, an imprint organized by Emma Cline and Gagosian, presents author Percival Everett’s novella Grand Canyon, Inc. alongside Untitled (Original Cowboy), a photograph by Richard Prince. In celebration of the publication, Everett met with author Brandon Taylor to discuss the novella, the role of history in the writing process, and the similarity in methodologies for science and literature.

Richard Prince: Cowboy

On the occasion of the publication of Richard Prince: Cowboy, a major monograph on the artist’s preoccupation with the mythic American West, Lucy Sante tracks the archetype through mass media, advertising, and the art of Richard Prince to illuminate the cowboy’s enduring appeal.