Richard Prince vs Ivanka Trump – fake art?
Art provocateur Richard Prince made a different kind of art statement this week by ‘denouncing’ a work of art he once sold to Ivanka Trump. The piece, one of his controversial Instagram series ‘New Portraits’ (above) was commissioned by Ivanka Trump and sold to her and her husband Jared Kushner for $36k three years ago. The series involved Prince choosing an existing Instagram post, adding his own comment, then enlarging it and printing it on canvas as a work of art.
But in a fit of anti-Trump pique and referencing Pa Trump’s ‘fake news’ schtick, Prince has returned the $36,000 and denounced the piece saying “This is not my work. I did not make it. I deny. I denounce. This fake art”.
Can he actually denounce creating a piece of art? The Fashion Law unpacks the situation here. I kind of love Prince’s sentiment but can’t help thinking it only makes the painting more famous and thus increases its market value. Perhaps that’s all part of the plan?
WORDS: Navaz Batliwalla/Disneyrollergirl
MAIN IMAGE: Richard Prince
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25 January, 2017 @ 3:45 pm
Thank you for this very interesting post. I have read The Fashion Law article a few times trying to understand the legal stance. The Prince piece was commissioned by the Trumps (and I use this collectively for all the members of the family) so I imagine there was a contract involved etc.and therefore unable to understand how Prince can say the piece is a fake, in other words denying that he made the artwork, to trigger his right to withdraw. It seems more about publicity. Trump’s behaviour and traits have have always been apparent so not sure how artists can turn to VARA for their artwork (except for copyright infringement when valid) particularly those pieces commissioned or those bought in the primary market when they were completely aware who was purchasing their artwork.