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Richard Prince

Cowboys

February 21–April 6, 2013
Beverly Hills

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Installation video

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Works Exhibited

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012 Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 80 ¼ × 48 inches (203.8 × 121.9 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012

Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 80 ¼ × 48 inches (203.8 × 121.9 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012 Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 68 ½ × 40 ⅛ inches (174 × 101.9 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012

Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 68 ½ × 40 ⅛ inches (174 × 101.9 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012 Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 81 ¼ × 48 inches (206.4 × 121.9 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012

Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 81 ¼ × 48 inches (206.4 × 121.9 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012 Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 78 ¾ × 48 ¼ inches (200 × 122.6 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012

Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 78 ¾ × 48 ¼ inches (200 × 122.6 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012 Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 74 ⅛ × 48 inches (188.3 × 121.9 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012

Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 74 ⅛ × 48 inches (188.3 × 121.9 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012 Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 80 9/16 × 48 inches (204.6 × 121.9 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012

Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 80 9/16 × 48 inches (204.6 × 121.9 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012 Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 70 × 42 inches (177.8 × 106.7 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012

Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 70 × 42 inches (177.8 × 106.7 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012 Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 61 1/16 × 36 1/16 inches (155.1 × 91.6 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012

Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 61 1/16 × 36 1/16 inches (155.1 × 91.6 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012 Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 40 × 24 inches (101.6 × 61 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012

Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 40 × 24 inches (101.6 × 61 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012 Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 59 ½ × 36 inches (151.1 × 91.4 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012

Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 59 ½ × 36 inches (151.1 × 91.4 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012 Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 73 ½ × 48 ¼ inches (186.7 × 122.6 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012

Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 73 ½ × 48 ¼ inches (186.7 × 122.6 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012 Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 59 ⅜ × 36 inches (150.8 × 91.4 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012

Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 59 ⅜ × 36 inches (150.8 × 91.4 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012 Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 72 × 45 ⅛ inches (182.9 × 114.6 cm)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2012

Inkjet and acrylic on canvas, 72 × 45 ⅛ inches (182.9 × 114.6 cm)

Installation view Artwork: © Richard Prince. Photo: © Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view

Artwork: © Richard Prince. Photo: © Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view © Richard Prince. Photo: © Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view

© Richard Prince. Photo: © Douglas M. Parker Studio

About

A cowboy walks into a bar and says to the bartender, “Who’s the asshole who owns this shithole?”
—Richard Prince

Gagosian is pleased to present Richard Prince’s Cowboy paintings.

Over the last thirty years, the American cowboy has given rise to some of Prince’s most celebrated works. Dividing into several phases between the early 1980s and the present, his rephotographing of verité images inspired by cowboy Westerns and produced for the advertising industry, reveals as much about his shifting relationship to an American icon and its construction by the mass media as his use of evolving reprographic technologies.

In the earliest iterations, out of necessity Prince shot around advertising copy to obtain the final edit, resulting in tightly cropped, grainy close-ups of larger-than-life ranchers, printed in standard format. In the second stage, enhanced production techniques allowed him to substantially increase the scale and intensity of the final images, and move his subjects out into the landscape. In the third phase he was able to work from high quality images totally devoid of copy. Thus the cowboys were reduced to diminutive yet legible ciphers dwarfed by vast, bucolic American landscapes. Transposed into the world of art, these cinematic vistas evoked—not without a trace of irony—the great Romantic tradition in painting.

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