Payback for Richard Prince as Models Re-appropriate Stolen Instagram Images and Sell Them for $90

Photo: Suicide Girls

SuicideGirls, Los Angeles’ famous alternative pin-up models, are giving everyone’s favorite appropriation artist a taste of his own medicine. They’ve taken the image of a model that Richard Prince used from their Instagram account for his “New Portraits” series, and they reproduced his reproduction (see Richard Prince Steals More Instagram Photographs and Sells Them for $100,000; Who Are The Suicide Girls? Inside the Pin-Up Community That Trolled Richard Prince, and Paddy Johnson’s now famous artnet News review, Richard Prince Sucks).

The best part? They’re asking for a mere $90 for an image of Ceres (above), rather than Prince’s going price at Frieze New York: $90,000. The listing on their blog notes that the canvases are “sold by the actual people who created the image and profits go to charity,” as opposed to “profits [going] to a rich gallery owner and millionaire ‘artist.'”

“While I understand the conversation that he’s trying to start, and that we’re all talking about copyright and art in the digital age, I feel like $90,000 is a crazy amount to spend,” Missy, the founder of SuicideGirls who conceived of the project, told artnet News over the phone. “He’s starting this conversation while utilizing people that are from our sort of scene—girls that are beautiful and unique. They could benefit from $90,000 dollars. None of them could afford that. So we wanted to create something that they could afford.”

All proceeds from the sales of the prints—which, they are careful to note, are done via the same method as the ones offered at Frieze—will go to benefit the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization that defends user privacy, free expression, and innovation in the digital sphere. Urban art publishers Eyes on Walls are supporting the project by fulfilling large canvas reproductions at a discounted rate.

SuicideGirls shared a link to the project with Prince via Twitter, but the artist has yet to respond. While we’re chuckling at the fact that the reproducer has been reproduced, we can’t help but feel like Prince is getting exactly what he wants—copious amounts of attention.

Installation view of Richard Prince, "New Portraits," at Gagosian

Installation view of Richard Prince, “New Portraits,” at Gagosian
Photo: Paddy Johnson.


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