Gagosian’s uptown gallery was quite a motley scene last Friday evening, as an unorthodox assortment of art enthusiasts gathered to toast and, of course, view Richard Prince’s latest exhibition, The Tiffany Paintings. A veritable social experiment: well-to-do Park Avenue types not-so-subtly investigated downtown fixtures like Max Snow while sipping wine in the back courtyard. Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Maritone perused the works alongside Rick Owens and Mary-Kate Olsen, and Terry Richardson induced a frenzy upon arrival. A stealth Glenn O’Brien wove through the crowd while Rachel Zoe posed for the cameras and a nervous cluster of over-dressed (and very underage) prep school students at once tried to blend in and make their mark.
However, it was Stan Light, a Prince fanatic who traveled all the way from Dallas, Texas just for the opening, who caught my eye. Dressed simply in a yellow-checkered shirt and jeans, he pointed to his red degrader limited edition Richard Prince Vuitton bag. “One of the ultimate goals of my life is to have him sign it,” he said with a twinge of longing in his voice. Sadly, artist and admirer were star-crossed that evening (Prince arrived just moments after Light’s departure). But his pilgrimage, however unsuccessful, is certainly testament to the almost rock star status Prince has come to achieve.
Despite the fascinating guests, it was, of course, Prince’s paintings that coaxed me so far uptown that evening. Further exploring his fascination with subliminal messages in print and advertisements, Prince exhibited a series of both large and small-scale paintings, each of which features a Tiffany and Co. ad from the New York Times in the upper right corner. The sometimes foggy, sometimes monochromatic canvases were a continuation of Prince’s nod towards the Abstract Expressionists, but with Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s cited as an inspiration, it was clear that these works extended beyond the obvious luxury gems and color fields. Beneath layers of black, purple, orange, blue or crimson paint lurked laser-printed news clippings. Prince highlighted headlines of artist’s obituaries and dark editorials to play off the heart-shaped baubles, dripping diamonds and platinum pendants within the Tiffany ads. And as I stared at one especially eerie black work, which pairs a holiday watch ad with the headline, “Driving from Ucross to Sheridan in the Depths of an Owlish Darkness,” I couldn’t help but see the similarities between Prince’s works and Capote’s Holly Golightly: both, at first, pleasing to the eye but suppressing dark yet intriguing stories below the surface.
“I think they’re very witty,” remarked Larry Gagosian. “They’ve taken something kind of obvious and turned it into something quite mysterious.”
But for Jeff Koons, a steadfast Prince fan and long-time friend of the artist, it was the paintings’ dueling messages of death and optimism that were most captivating. “The two [ideas] opposed each other the between the [Tiffany] advertisements for things which are celebrating weddings or engagements and show a meaning of attachment to letting go. When one dies you let go.”
Richard Prince’s Tiffany Paintings will be on view at Gagosian’s 980 Madison Avenue Gallery through June 19.
One Comment
Couldn’t you cite just about anythings as an inspiration-there’s nothing in these paintings remotely related to Capote except the suggestion they might be. And by the way, these are terrible paintings…basically poor imitations of other artists–Rothko, Gerhard Richter (obscuring his photographs of Venice), or Clyfford Still…Prince is the lamest of the lame, treading ground already well traversed by others and adding nothing. As with all of his work, he can’t do anything but copy…and he copies poorly.