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Showing posts with label Art Production Fund. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art Production Fund. Show all posts

Prada Marfa, A Full Scale Replica of a Prada Boutique In Texas: Art or Advertisement?



above: A permanent art installation, PRADA MARFA, is under fire by the Texas Department of Transportation who has officially classified the structure as an illegal outdoor advertisement. (photo by Casey McCallister)

What Is Prada Marfa?
Prada Marfa is a site-specific, permanent land art project by artists Elmgreen & Dragset constructed in 2005. Modeled after a Prada boutique, the inaccessible interior of the structure includes luxury goods from Prada’s fall collection from that year. The door does not open, ensuring that the sculpture will never function as a place of commerce. Art Production Fund and Ballroom Marfa co-produced the project.



Prada Marfa is a favorite subject of photographers, both professional and amateur. I found some fabulous images and have featured them throughout this post.


above photo by Roderick Peterson

Artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset:
"Prada Marfa is an artwork initiated by ourselves and realized in a collaboration with the not-for-profit cultural organizations Art Production Fund and Ballroom Marfa in 2005. It was not a work commissioned by the fashion brand Prada nor had the fashion brand any involvement in the creation of this work. They kindly gave us the permission to use their logo after we asked them, due to the founder Muccia Prada’s personal interest in contemporary art, and she donated shoes and bags, which have never been renewed but stay the same – as a historic display – inside the sculpture. The right definition of advertisement must be based on criteria more accurate than just including any sign which contains a logo. It is advertisement only when a company either commissions someone to make such a sign, pays for its execution or makes a sign themselves in order to promote the company’s products. And this is not the case here since Prada Marfa never had any commercial link to the fashion brand Prada, unlike the Playboy bunny which went up this summer initiated by Playboy itself.


above photo by Rice Jackson

Prada Marfa is firmly positioned within a contemporary understanding of site specific art, but also draws strongly on pop art and land art – two art forms which were conceived and thrived especially in the USA from the 1960s and onwards. Many artists, from Andy Warhol with his famous Campbell soup cans to Andreas Gursky with his grand photographic documentation of retail spaces have appropriated and dealt with the visual language of commercial brands. In an increasingly commercialized world, we see the independent artistic treatment of all visual signs and signifiers as crucial to a better and wider understanding of our day- to-day surroundings, including the influence of corporations.



It comes as a big surprise for us that the Texas Department of Transportation now after eight years may declare this well-known artwork to be illegal and we think it would be a shame for the local community if it disappeared after being there for so long since the work clearly is one of the strong points for the cultural tourism, which is such an important financial factor in this region. However, we are very happy to experience the fantastic support from both art professionals internationally, locals and others, who have even created a Facebook page named “Save Prada Marfa” that after just a short while has received almost 4000 likes and daily receives plenty of new posts, stories and images from people who once visited this site."



above: two photos by Gray Malin from his series of Prada Marfa, prints available here

Yvonne Force Villareal & Doreen Remen, Co-founders, Art Production Fund:
"Within our 13 years of producing and presenting important public art, few works have been as eagerly embraced than Prada Marfa by Elmgreen & Dragset. With full integrity, the artists refused for us to ask any corporation, especially Prada, for monetary donations to support the making of this project. It took us over a year of intense fundraising from local and international private patrons to realize this authentic and pure permanent artwork. The family of the late Walter Alton “Slim” Brown, even generously contributed to the project by lending their land. Great public art empowers people and gives them alternate ways to understand the times that we live in; Prada Marfa is a civic gift that has become one of the great worldwide pop icons."


above photo by Lizette Kabré

Fairfax Dorn, Co-founder and Executive Director, Ballroom Marfa:
"Prada Marfa is a living sculpture, an installation that has taken on a life of its own. In the eight years since its creation, Elmgreen & Dragset’s work has become part of the cultural and physical landscape of Far West Texas. At the same time it has entered into international art history discourse. It’s part of what people think of when they think of Marfa, either as art lovers on a pilgrimage, or as surprised passersby.


above photo by James Evans, Prada Marfa, 2005, Digital photograph, 40 x 50 inches (unframed), Limited edition of 25, available for purchase here

It’s also a non-profit project — supported entirely by funds from foundations and individuals — and the antithesis of commercialism. Prada Marfa is an embodiment of the Ballroom Marfa mission to combine innovation and accessibility without compromising on either front. We are encouraging engagement with art. Prada Marfa has been a precursor to other public art projects in Marfa, from temporary installations to our current work creating a community gathering place and performance venue with the Drive-In."


above photo by Cody Austin (courtesy of Facebook)

Where is Prada Marfa?
​Despite its name, the sculpture is not located in Marfa, but 37 miles northwest on highway 90 in Jeff Davis county, just outside of the town of Valentine, TX.


​above: Desolation from Will Sones (courtesy of Facebook)

Who are Elmgreen & Dragset?
Working together since 1995 and drawing from disciplines as varied as institutional critique, social politics, performance and architecture, Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset’s interdisciplinary practice reconfigures the familiar with characteristic wit and subversive humor. The static, staged environments they have presented across the world question our expectations by enacting paradoxical, seemingly misplaced scenarios that challenge our habitual notions, often to surprising or shocking effect. As a result, throughout their collaborative artistic partnership, Elmgreen & Dragset, from Denmark and Norway respectively, have redefined the way in which art is presented and experienced.


above photo by Noel Kerns, 2008

Michael Elmgreen (born 1961 in Copenhagen, Denmark) and Ingar Dragset (born 1969 in Trondheim, Norway), based in Berlin and London, have worked together as an artist duo since 1995. They have held numerous solo exhibitions in art institutions worldwide, including the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam (2011), ZKM Museum of Modern Art in Karlsruhe (2010), MUSAC in Léon (2009), The Power Plant in Toronto (2006), Serpentine Gallery (2006) and Tate Modern (2004) in London, and Kunsthalle Zürich (2001). Their work has been included in the Liverpool (2012), Singapore (2011), Moscow (2011, 2007), Gwangju (2002), São Paulo (2002), Istanbul (2001), and Berlin (1998) biennials, and in 2009 they received a special mention for their exhibition The Collectors in the Nordic and Danish Pavilions at the 53rd Venice Biennale. Amongst their most well known works are Prada Marfa (2005) – a full scale replica of a Prada boutique in the middle of the Texan desert, and Short Cut (2003) – a car and a caravan breaking through the ground which was first shown in Milan and now resides in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Recent projects include the permanent public sculpture Han in Elsinore, Denmark (2012) and the theatrical play Happy Days in the Art World, which debuted at the Performa 11 biennial in New York (2011) and was subsequently performed at the Bergen International Festival and the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen (both 2012). Their winning Fourth Plinth Commission Powerless Structures, Fig. 10” – depicting a child astride his rocking horse – is on view until August 2014 in Trafalgar Square, London. Currently Elmgreen & Dragset are the curators of A Space Called Public / Hoffentlich Öffentlich, an extensive public art program taking place in Munich through September 2013. Their solo exhibition Tomorrow, a major site-specific installation in the former textile galleries of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, will open in October 2013. Upcoming solo exhibitions by Elmgreen & Dragset will take place at the Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo (March 2014), PLATEAU, Seoul (summer 2014), and Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen (autumn 2014).

​Elmstreen & Dragset

Who are Ballroom Marfa and Art Production Fund?
Art Production Fund (APF) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to commissioning and producing ambitious public art projects, reaching new audiences and expanding awareness through contemporary art. It aims to provide artists with the necessary production assistance for complex, difficult-to-realize projects, often of a multidisciplinary nature. It was founded by Yvonne Force Villareal and Doreen Remen in 2000. Recent notable APF projects include Yvette Mattern’s Global Rainbow in response to Hurricane Sandy, NYC (2012); Yoko Ono’s Imagine Peace in Times Square, NYC (2012); and Josephine Meckseper’s Manhattan Oil Project, NYC (2012).

Founded in 2003 by Virginia Lebermann and Fairfax Dorn, Ballroom Marfa is a 501(c)3 non-profit cultural arts organization in Far West Texas. Ballroom Marfa’s mission is to serve international, national, regional, and local arts communities and support the work of both emerging and recognized artists working in all media. Ballroom Marfa has worked with over 200 artists, produced 28 internationally-recognized exhibitions and hosted over 100 music concerts.

above: Shoe (detail), Prada Marfa, 2005. Photo by James Evans.

Prada Marfa is a marquee undertaking for both organizations, as it represents their shared interest in supporting projects outside of traditional gallery or museum environments.

Who is Boyd Elder?


above: Boyd Elder surveying the property. Photo by Lizette Kabré.

Boyd Elder is the photogenic caretaker and site representative of Prada Marfa, making appearances to individual travelers as well as a national audience in 60 Minutes’ profile of the sculpture. He is a lifelong resident of Valentine and a Big Bend legend, his name coming up alongside Mick Jagger, The Eagles and Joni Mitchell. He has his own line of Southwestern-themed leather gear, and makes paintings on horse and cattle skulls.


above image ©2011 Barry B Doyle

Is Prada Marfa a store?
No. There is no public access to the interior of the structure, and nothing is for sale.

As Michael Elmgreen said in a recent interview with Texas Monthly, “[Prada Marfa] was meant as a critique of the luxury goods industry, to put a shop in the middle of the desert.”

Anyone is welcome to take a picture, and it seems like almost everyone does — from Beyoncé to the scores of amateur photographers you’ll find using the #PradaMarfa hashtag. Snapshots are free, unless you would like to collect the limited edition print from photographer James Evans, currently available from Ballroom Marfa.

Is Prada Marfa an advertisement for Prada?
No. It is a non-profit public art project that was conceived of by Elmgreen & Dragset, who declined any monetary support from Prada or any other corporation.

As an art lover, Miuccia Prada, founder of the museum spaces of Fondazione Prada, did give the artists the right to use the Prada logo, even though she knew it was intended as subversive of commodification and the very brand itself.

“There’s a difference between being commissioned by a company to do something for them and using their logo, and using their logo on your own,” Elmgreen told Texas Monthly.

Is the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) trying to remove Prada Marfa?
We don’t know. As of now we have yet to receive any communication from TxDOT about Prada Marfa.

What does this have to do with Playboy Marfa?



Ballroom Marfa and Art Production Fund are not involved with Playboy Marfa, an installation outside of Marfa, Texas by the artist Richard Phillips (shown above). Playboy Marfa was commissioned by Landis Smithers and Neville Wakefield, Playboy’s Creative Director of Special Projects. Wakefield also curated Autobody, an unrelated exhibition at Ballroom Marfa in 2012.



Following much controversy and a complaint by Lineaus Hooper Lorette, a local accountant and artist, TxDOT “ordered the property owner to remove this sign because the owner does not have a Texas License for Outdoor Advertising and a specific permit application for the sign was not submitted.”

After further discussion with Plaboy’s legal team, Veronica Beyer, TxDOT Director of Media Relations, told the Big Bend Sentinel in August that “the order of removal issued to the landowner has been rescinded, and TxDOT is having discussions with Playboy Enterprises to find a solution to this issue.”

No doubt the deeper critical ramifications of this question are being pondered by art historians, enthusiasts and MFA thesis writers at this very moment, as well as by Playboy counsel Dick DeGuerin. Dick’s a good friend of Ballroom, but is not officially involved with Prada Marfa.

Related Links:
Art Production Fund
Ballroom Marfa
Elmstreem & Dragset
Gray Malin's prints of Prada Marfa
Boyd Elder
Save Prada Marfa on Facebook

Jasper Johns and Tracey Emin Limited Edition Artist Beach Towels For 2011



Works on Whatever and The Art Production Fund have just released their Artist Series Beach Towels for 2011 whose proceeds go toward funding public art. This year they have reproduced the art of only two artists (as opposed to four in previous years) on the 60" x 70" limited edition cotton towels.

above: detail from the Jasper Johns Beach Towel for 2011



above: detail from the Tracey Emin Beach Towel for 2011

The 2011 Artist Towel Series featuring works by TRACEY EMIN and JASPER JOHNS will be on view at The Standard Spa during Art Basel Miami Beach from December 2-5, 2010.

The Jasper Johns Beach Towel:


The Tracey Emin Towel:



I have blogged about these each year since they began producing them. Previous years' towels included artwork by Alex Katz, Jeff Koons, Julian Schnabel, Cindy Sherman, Yoshitomo Nara, Elizabeth Peyton, Kehinde Wiley, Raymond Pettibone, Rob Pruitt, Karen Kilimnik, Richard Phillips, Ed Ruscha, Peter Doig and Marilyn Minter.

The 2008 Artist Series Beach Towels

The 2009 Artist Series Beach Towels

The 2010 Artist Series Beach Towels

The price continues to rise on these functional pieces of art and they become more difficult to find.




WOW (Works on Whatever): is part of Art Production Fund’s WOW project; a unique collection of everyday items designed by artists. APF invites artists to experiment with the latest commercial materials and techniques to bring art off the walls and into homes as everyday objects. WOW introduces contemporary art to a larger community, with revenues from sales supporting our non-profit mission. WOW functions conceptually with APF’s program of expanding art audiences and helps fund additional major public art initiatives. Art Production Fund (APF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to producing ambitious public art projects, reaching new audiences and expanding awareness through contemporary art.

The 2010 Artist Beach Towels Are Here!



Once again, the Art Production Fund and Works on Whatever have come out with their artist beach towels. This year, they are only adding two to the fourth annual artist towel series, each created by acclaimed artists Peter Doig and Yoshitomo Nara.

Yoshitomo Nara:

Peter Doig:





They make great gifts for the art lover in your life, or for yourself. Each towel measures 60" x 70” (double width), is made of 100% cotton and costs $95. each. Buy them here. No longer available

• To see the 2008 artist beach towels, go here.

• To see the 2009 artist beach towels, go here.

The 2009 Artist Beach Towels Are Here!




It's that time of year again. And no, I don't mean Christmas, I mean the release of the latest collection of artist beach towels from the Art Production Fund and Works On Whatever.

Once again, the four limited edition beach towels will be carried by Target (online only) and also available online in two other places. Links to purchase are at the end of this post.

This year, 2009, the collection features contemporary artwork by Karen Kilimnik, Raymond Pettibon, Julian Schnabel and Ed Ruscha reproduced on large soft 100% cotton, 50" x 60" beach towels.

Karen Kilimnik:

Raymond Pettibon:

Ed Ruscha:


Julian Schnabel:

The new beach towels will be on view at the Raleigh Hotel and at the Standard Spa during Art Basel Miami Beach, Dec. 4-7, 2008.




About WOW (Works on Towels): Artist Towel Series 2009 is part of Art Production Fund's WOW (Works on Whatever) project. a unique collection of everyday items designed by artists. APF invites artists to experiment with the latest commercial materials and techniques to bring art off the walls and into homes as everyday objects. WOW introduces contemporary art to a larger community with revenues from sales supporting our non-profit mission. WOW works conceptually with APF's program of expanding art audiences and helps fund additional major civic artworks.

To see the artist towels series from 2008 and 2007, click here.

To purchase them (and they go quickly) you can buy each of the $50.00 USD towels at:
• the Standard Hotels online store here. (plus shipping)
• Or at Target online here. (free shipping now)
• Or directly from WOW -(10$ shipping) where you can find some of the others from 2007 and 2008.

100% of the profits go to support public art and they are so much fun, they make a fabulous and worthwhile gift.

Be Hip, Green & Merry Simultaneously: WOW's Vinyl Artist Christmas Tree


I introduced you to the Art Production Fund's Works On Whatever last year when I first told you about their artist beach towel series and then again , this past week when I introduced you to the new 2008 artist series beach towels.

Now, in addition to the cool beach towels, WOW has come out with this fabulous vinyl Christmas Tree wall sticker in collaboration with Wallpaper LAB and designer Marilyn Minter.


MARILYN MINTER "MERRY MERRY" TREE
A self-adhesive vinyl sticker

No more watering a dead tree, no more fire hazard, no more vacuuming up pine needles well into April. It's a truly 'green' Christmas tree: reduce, reuse, recycle this vinyl sticker year after year. Save the trees, save water, save your back from schlepping it all the way home. No religion, no broken ornaments. It's a Christmas tree for the moderately wealthy and super lazy.

Minter will collaborate with Wallpaper LAB and WOW (Works on Whatever) to create a six-foot die-cut vinyl wall-sticker that addresses the powerful and ubiquitous symbol of the season: The Christmas Tree. Minter styled a small tree with her own eclectic collection of shiny ornaments, lighting and photographing it in a way that merges crisp detail with gauzy soft-focus radiance. The photograph is further transformed on the way to the decal: the image is enlarged and an archetypical Charlie Brown cartoon die-cut shape is enforced as the template for the tree.

The self-adhesive vinyl tree can be applied directly to the wall, by either removing the paper back or simply pinning it; a boon to the space-challenged apartment dweller with a sense of humor. Each limited edition "Merry Merry" tree comes rolled in a tube with four decal ornaments and a star and retails for $180. The "Merry Merry" star can be purchased separately for $25. 1/3 of the proceeds go to support public art through Art Production Fund.


About Wallpaper LAB:

Wallpaper LAB is a publisher of limited edition artist wallpaper. Founded by Ron Keyson in 2006, WL collaborates with contemporary artists to translate their studio works into conceptually heroic wallpaper and wall stickers. From freeze framing the entirety of Douglas Gordon's video masterpiece Play Dead, Real Time to digitally super scanning Phoebe Washburn's plywood blowout Wood Wall sculpture, invited artists are challenged to pull the domestic world of wallpaper into their own aesthetic gravitational center. The inaugural exhibition at Lennon Weinberg Gallery in 2006 wrapped the entire 3000 square foot gallery space with fifteen original artist's wallpapers, the result being a seamless visual battle of the bands. Wallpaper LAB is represented in New York City by Artware Editions.

For more information and installation views please see: www.wallpaperlab.com or www.artwareeditions.com

About WOW:
WOW (Works on Whatever)
is a unique collection of everyday items designed by artists. The revenues from sales go into public art. APF invites artists to experiment with the latest commercial materials and techniques to bring art off the walls and into homes as everyday objects. WOW introduces contemporary art to a larger community, with profits supporting Art Production Fund�s mission dedicated to producing ambitious public art projects, reaching new audiences and expanding awareness through contemporary art. Projects include: SHOW, Vanessa Beecroft, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1998; FISCHERSPOONER: LA, performance, 2001; Keith + Farrah, collaborative exhibition by Keith Edmier and Farrah Fawcett, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and The Andy Warhol Museum, 2003; PLAN B, Rudolf Stingel summer 2004, Grand Central's Vanderbilt Hall and The Walker Art Center; Prada Marfa, Elmgreen & Dragset, Valentine, TX, 2005; Greeting Card, Aaron Young, Park Avenue Armory, 2007. APF Co-Founders : Yvonne Force Villareal and Doreen Remen, Director of Operations: Casey Fremont.

For more information please see: www.worksonwhatever.com


just the star
12 inch removable vinyl sticker- $25.00
Buy it here.



full tree kit
(1) 58 x 48 inch vinyl tree sticker (1) 12 inch star (4) ornaments

Buy it here.

The 2008 Artist Series Beach Towels Are Here!




Earlier in 2007, Target and the Art Production Fund came out with a series of four artist-designed towels. The 2007 series (seen below) was a big hit and Target sold out of all four almost immediately. As a big Alex Katz fan, I immediately bought two of his. The towels are nice and large 60" x 70" and well worth the $50.00 for which they retail.


Above: The now sold-out Artists Series of Beach Towels from 2007

Now, Target and Art Production Fund have announced the lineup of guest artists for their second-annual collaboration of fine-art towels known as the Artist Towel Series 2008.

cindy sherman beach towel
Above: One of this years' wonderful artist series beach towels

Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Elizabeth Peyton, and Kehinde Wiley have each created a limited-edition beach towel as part of the WOW (Works on Whatever) items designed by contemporary artists to bring art off the walls and into everyday life.


Above: Jeff Koons' Balloon Monkey beach towel


Above: Cindy Sherman's Woman In Pool beach towel

They include "Balloon Monkey," "Woman in Pool," "Sidney," and "African-American Man." The 60 x 70-inch cotton towels, which will be available starting November 19 for $50 on Target.com and worksonwhatever.com, will also be the official pool towels for André Balazs' Raleigh Hotel during Art Basel Miami Beach December 5 to 9.




































 
above: Elizabeth Peyton's Sidney beach towel


above: Kehinde Wiley's African American Man beach towel

Proceeds from sales will support Art Production Fund's mission to support major civic artwork projects, while half of all proceeds generated from sales of Koons' towel will also support the Koons Family Institute, a resource of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.

Buy 'em quick, they don't stay in stock for long.









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