Elmgreen and Dragset: Prada, Marfa

December 31st, 2005 · No Comments · Artists, Texas

Prada1

Prada2

Just outside Marfa, Texas, Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset’s Prada, Marfa is an installation [created with permission from Prada] surrounded by desert and mountains and nothing else. Inside are Prada shoes and purses; the doors do not open.

The only sign is on the front — the sides are plain — and traffic on the highway travels at 70 mph, so although you can’t miss it as an object on the side of the road, it is actually easy to miss as an artwork. I can imagine a bored child looking out the side of her car window and then having a hard time convincing parents that they just passed a Prada store.

A timely commentary on class differences. Most Prada purses cost more than many area residents make in a month.

The work had the same quality of construction you would expect at a mall and this surprised me. I thought that they would take shortcuts and build for the photo. A pleasant surprise: Marfa’s newest premiere chain is built to last.

Category: Artists · Texas

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