Richard Prince & Cindy Sherman, 1980

White Story/Black Bra

Listening to the past
.Insinuating
…Synapsis
…….Partnering with
………Rock-n-Roll
………..Certain and aware
………..Crazy
………….Amazing
…………..Maintaining relevance
…………….Initiating sound & memory
…………….Irrigation & Pollination
………………..Gregariously
………………………..Sexy
…………………………Explicit, Ready and Now
…………………………………………..New.

I am working as a TA in a Contemporary Art undergrad class every Friday. This past week our guest was Holly Anderson, poet, writer, wife. She spoke about her writing, her life in the East Village during the early 1980’s and zines. Her words and poems were translated into music by the group Mission to Burma. Her lecture, reminded me of my love of poetry and inspired the poem in the previous post. I wrote the poem above in a sense of immediacy while she was lecturing.

After class I went (via request of Gerry Pryor) to see the Richard Prince exhibit, “Spiritual America” at the Guggenheim museum. My mission: to look at the way that Richard portrays men.


Hoods of cars, cast, molded 2004-Present, Fiberglass, polyester, resin, acrylic, and wood.

Looking at these molded hoods, I wanted to reach out and touch the surface, but didn’t. The objects, are the icon of masculinity but also have such a dull physical presence, almost as if they are awkwardly trying to blend into their surroundings. I couldn’t help but think of Matthew Barney. I don’t know if this was partially brought on by the actual spatial existence of the Guggenheim spiral, which once housed Barney’s sculptures, or if there was something more literal. So imagine my glee when returning home last night, and doing some research, I found that Roberta Smith made the same reference to Barney. (New York Times-Art Review, Pilfering a Culture Out of Joint, September 28, 2007).


Check painting, inscribed with on-going, jokes, checks feature such pop culture icons as Spongebob Squarepants & Jimmy Hendrix.

While strolling up into the abyss of the museum, I found myself melting into the work that was before me. I felt powerless against it. Most art manipulates me. Upon reaching the top two rooms I felt the most inspired. Richard is still working on his Nurse paintings (large scale reproductions of mystery pop paperback covers) and has commenced upon works that use direct elements from de Kooning paintings. The works dated from 2005-present, are acrylic and inkjet on canvas. They use elements of de Koonings painted “Women” series and the resulting “hybrids” are an interlace of paint and porn. I thought of Picasso. The elements merge flawlessly in a combination of texture desire and flat two-dimensional desire bringing together the past and the present in a tactile manner. One thing that kept coming to mind while looking at the work. “How does Prince portray men?” Gerry’s posed question. The first memory I have of seeing a Richard Prince work, was at the Nassau County Museum, recent acquisitions. The work was the Marlborough Man. I remember looking at the piece and thinking “huh?”. Now several of these works also climb the walls of the Guggenheim. Heroes. Idealized. Appropriated. Featured series: Jokes, Cowboys, Girlfriends, Hoods, Nurses, and so on- an invitation to think anew of an already accepted reality. But what is his reality? I found myself wondering if Richard Prince is gay. (Upon further internet research, yes) The exhibit mentions the Marlborough Man as being a quitessential icon of Gay Culture. (This is something I didn’t know but I can now assume the author of Brokeback Mountain did) What I love about Richard Prince’s work, and now presume to understand, is that he proposes the idea of idealistic masculinity and how men are “supposed” to act towards women. Then he portrays women, again idealized, humbled, weak, as seen through the eyes of the men who are trying to fit into the pigeon-holed category of being the Marlborough Man. The cycle of portrayal, wonderment, elements of promiscuity and mass-culture all come together in a body of work that is all together paying homage to the past and is relevantly moving forward into the future.