Richard Prince

A standout canvas in Richard Prince’s most recent series High Times, Untitled is characteristically punk and unconcerned with the fashions of the art world. At about seven feet by five feet, it envelops the viewer in a surreal scene composed of a variety of media: acrylic, oilstick, charcoal, matte medium, and inkjet collage. An otherworldly circus of figures, Untitled evokes the menageries of James Ensor and Frida Kahlo. It is as if Prince’s mind, filled with humanoids, graffiti, masks, maybe even a mummy, has tumbled onto the canvas.
High Times is a series of self-appropriation that re-proposes Prince’s earlier series Hippie Drawings (1998-1999). The idea germinated when Prince was asked to collaborate with the iconic marijuana counterculture magazine HIGH TIMES in 2016. In an interview with writer and gallerist Bill Powers in the magazine, Prince mused, “I like a little nonfiction in the work so it’s grounded in reality” (R. Price, quoted in B. Powers, “Always Trust a Hippie: An Interview with Richard Prince,” HIGH TIMES, January 1, 2019, online). It is interesting to consider what the nonfiction in Untitled might be. It could be that, in the tradition of the European neo-avant-garde, Prince has issued a call to reject normative society.
In the spirit of Surrealism, Art Brut, and Situationist International (or even Renaissance master Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s peasants), Untitled displays a humanistic absurdism, as well as a penchant for self-appropriation, “Scanned, cut, or copied from Prince’s sketchbooks, they are stick-limbed people: various grinning dudes, goofy and drugged; a cross-eyed, bikini-clad bimbo; a long-haired girl with dazed dot eyes and a straight-line mouth” (B. Droitcour, “Richard Prince,” Art in America, February 1, 2019). Yet Prince’s technical care and skill are not lost in this parade. Close examination of Untitled reveals his meticulous process; like a tattoo, the canvas comes alive with texture and line. Prince’s prominent marks are unmistakable, especially at the edges of the figures, and they coalesce into a collage-like surface that ebbs and flows just as paint does. This playful, but rigorous, handling of pigment is reminiscent of the neo-avant-garde, such as Jean Dubuffet’s Paris Polka (1961) and Les Grandes Artères (1961) or Asger Jorn’s In the Beginning Was the Image (1965). Jean-Michel Basquiat could also be invoked here, which reminds us of Prince’s roots in the 1980s downtown New York scene.
The High Times series, first exhibited in 2018, was critically lauded (and popular, especially with Prince’s launch of his own marijuana strain during the run of the show). According to Art in America, “High Times was a great show, with a joyful mood and a formal playfulness that made it endlessly exciting to look at” (B. Droitcour, “Richard Prince,” Art in America, February 1, 2019). The New York Times co-chief art critic Roberta Smith declared the style forged in High Times “one of his best,” observing that “As never before, the paintings reveal Mr. Prince’s chops as a painter and colorist, but the ‘fun’ they provide actually challenges more than entertains” (R. Smith, “Richard Prince’s New, Late Style Is One of His Best,” The New York Times, November 29, 2018). An accompanying book was published alongside Richard Prince: High Times with an essay by celebrated writer Rachel Kushner, continuing Prince’s legacy of self-archiving. Other examples from this series are held by the Hill Art Foundation and several esteemed private collections.
The best artists combine levity with inquiry, humor with critique. Prince has always managed this balancing act with aplomb, and Untitled is no exception. With its luminous colors and engrossing tactility, it is akin not only to a crowd, but also to a landscape. Within this landscape are endless iterations of humanity and the flora and fauna that populate the world. Untitled is thus an ode to diversity, chance, and play. Though Prince’s work is often understood to be resolutely about the myth of “Richard Prince,” the humanity of the High Times series shows us that art is expansive and relatable. Within Prince’s work in painting, we can see his vision for a world free of boundaries.