Richard Prince, Untitled Cowboy, 1989

Richard Prince's life's work as an artist exists as a means of disrupting the sometimes coveted "ivory tower" of the art world. His work exists for me as a melting pot of mediums though I'm most drawn to the way he challenges a conception of ownership of art. When discussing the history of the photographic practice you have to confront the fact that the longevity of the medium relies on it's reproducibility. There's an inherent obligation to be copied and shared as opposed to other art forms. This culture that surrounds photography has lended itself to artists like Richard Prince's ability to create the work he does by abstracting a photograph through arguably the simplest means possible as to reinvent the entire meaning. To discuss the work below more directly, Prince confronts the divide between what we consider the worlds of advertisement and fine art by taking existing images produced by photographer Norm Clasen in service of the tobacco industry for Marlboro's Marlboro Man campaign and recontextualized them as an almost uncanny depiction of the stereotypical western cowboy. What interests me about this series is it's really unashamed of dealing with this concept that "true" art can't exist in the world of advertising and vice-versa. That conversation has been a taboo for as long as advertising has existed. Both Clasen and Prince are attempting to sell an ideal though what sets them apart is unlike Clasen, Prince is in service entirely to himself. With that said he's undergoing a rather selfless act as well by for lack of better words rescuing these images outside of the context of self-serving consumerism. The Marlboro Man ad campaign was extremely detrimental to youth at the time and through "plagiarism" Prince is providing an alternative. (Week 6)