Beyoncé posed in front of it, and so did The Simpsons. The single-room replica of a Prada store contains real Prada items, although its doors cannot be opened. The Texan desert stretched wide on either side of Highway 90 as we rumbled along in our rental car at 70 miles per hour. According to … Feb 25, 2013 - At home with Jay-Z! And so we posed, like everyone before us, and hopefully everyone after. Sign up for magazine extras, upcoming events, Mercantile specials, subscription offers, and more. “If someone spray-paints graffiti or a cowboy decides to use it as target practice or maybe a mouse or a muskrat makes a home in it, 50 years from now it will be a ruin that is a reflection of the time it was made.”. But the small desert town of roughly 2,000 residents has amassed a cult fascination in recent years – thanks, in part, to the social media frenzy around the Prada Marfa, the 2005 replica of a Prada store created by artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset. I’m attracted by nostalgia but I refuse it intellectually.” But whatever it is—Prada Marfa has its own life now. Like any popular work of public art, Prada Marfa has become something of a cultural landmark in recent years. Starting in the late 19th century, it was a rail stop for oilmen, then a watering hole for ranchers. Marfa probably isn't the first city you think of when Texas comes to mind. It was also meant as a comment on branding and consumerist culture.” The sculpture was announced in the fall in The New York Times. Prada Marfa attracts thousands of visitors each year. There’s a paradox sitting in the West Texas desert: a Prada store, with thousands of visitors but no customers. There’s a certain subset of people who, when I tell them I live in Marfa, get a hazy look in their eyes. It is a fixture in fashion and art photography manuals. 569.7k Likes, 4,098 Comments - Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Instagram Instagram photo by Beyoncé • Apr 21, 2014 at 6:19 AM 569.7k Likes, 4,098 Comments - Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Instagram 50. The sculpture’s safety was entrusted to a local in the nearby town of Valentine named Boyd Elders, and the local sheriff was asked to keep his eye out for any trouble. Marfa probably isn't the first city you think of when Texas comes to mind. The two affixed signs to the windows of a Chelsea gallery that read Prada, Coming Soon—a playful wink at the ways in which gentrification transforms neighborhoods into meccas for consumerism. Courtesy Ballroom Marfa. All rights reserved. One of the art world’s premier selfie destinations, Prada Marfa is so well-known that even Beyoncé couldn’t resist a photo opportunity. From Marfa to the Moon: A weekend in west Texas. Our plan was to let nature gradually decide the destiny of the piece and not random vandals.”, Recently, too, the sculpture experienced another setback when the Texas Department of Transportation classified Prada Marfa as an illegal roadside advertising. Their signage caught the eye of Yvonne Force Villareal and Doreen Remen, who, with their nonprofit the Art Production Fund and its Texan satellite, Ballroom Marfa, helped bring Prada Marfa into existence. Art. Another draw to Marfa is the people. Well, you might want to book your tickets--and fast. A post shared by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Apr 21, 2014 at 6:19am PDT. Of course, with this came with an excess of press and social media response , and the myth of the town was perpetuated: Why would Beyoncé hang out in Marfa? The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. A post shared by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Apr 21, 2014 at 6:19am PDT. Prada Marfa: You can’t leave with one of Prada’s new crocodile bowling bags, but you can get a great Instagram shot. Stricter security measures were added, such a camera and an alarm. Famous Prada Marfa 'Shop' May Get Torn Down Always dreamed about heading down to Marfa, Texas and posing outside the famous Prada "store", a la Beyonce? 569.7k Likes, 4,098 Comments - Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Instagram Instagram photo by Beyoncé • Apr 21, 2014 at 6:19 AM 569.7k Likes, 4,098 Comments - Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Instagram At the start of Prada Marfa’s life, around 5,000 art tourists visited Marfa each year; last year, around 40,000 did. Prada Marfa is a site specific, permanent land art project by artists Elmgreen & Dragset, commissioned by Art Production Fund and Ballroom Marfa. Privacy Policy. Bey swung by Food Shark, stayed at El Cosmico, and made a mandatory stop at Prada Marfa. 10 Things You Didn't Know About Prada Marfa. Its creators, now based in Berlin, Germany, liked the idea of placing luxury goods—donated by designer Miuccia Prada from the 2005 collection—in a context where they would seem displaced and strange. We stopped by this “pop architectural land art” on our way to Big Bend National Park from El Paso, Texas. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. But since then, Prada Marfa has become such a target for vandalism that the spirit of the sculpture has changed. Photography. Despite its ubiquity on social media, though, the sculpture maintains an uncanny allure. Always dreamed about heading down to Marfa, Texas and posing outside the famous Prada "store", a la Beyonce? But since then, Prada Marfa has become such a target for vandalism that the spirit of … Except this one is outside the town of Valentine, which has a reported population of 132, and a median household income of $45,670 (that’s approximately seventeen Prada bags). Beyonce opens up intimate family album to show her life of private jets, bike rides and baby Blue Ivy And it never will be. “It’s like a teenager moving out,” Dragset told Ballroom Marfa. #marfa #marfatexas #beyonce #beyhive #art #artistsoninstagram #artist #artwork #contemporaryart Prada Marfa is an art installation located in Valentine, Texas, off US Highway 90.; It was created by two Berlin-based artists who are known for addressing and criticizing societal trends through their work. Prada Marfa is a site specific, permanent land art project by artists Elmgreen & Dragset, commissioned by Art Production Fund and Ballroom Marfa. Popular with, among others, Beyoncé and, Matthew McConaughey, and Hollywood film scouts (it's where Giant and There Will Be Blood were filmed) it will leave you and your impression of contemporary art changed forever. We stopped by this “pop architectural land art” on our way to Big Bend National Park from El Paso, Texas. “We really wanted to see what could happen if one would make a fusion of pop and Land art. “You sort of lose control over it.”. The installation has been widely acclaimed by some critics, treated as a civic landmark by Marfa’s art community, and visited on fashion pilgrimages by celebrities like Beyoncé. After the devastating vandalism of the living sculpture, we visit the site and speak to the artists, Elmgreen & Dragset. The centerpiece of this pilgrimage is the Chinati Foundation. beyonce - Posts tagged my work. The installation has been widely acclaimed by some critics, treated as a civic landmark by Marfa’s art community, and visited on fashion pilgrimages by celebrities like Beyoncé. And this Prada features a handful of lifeless handbags, covered in a light film of desert dust, along with three spartan rows of only right-footed size-37 Prada shoes. . “One contractor suggested rattlesnakes inside,” said Villareal and Remen. Share Share Tweet Email Comment. “That’s the tiny town in the middle of the desert with a Prada store, right?” Well, yes and no. It’s hard to miss as it’s basically the only thing on the side of … If you’re driving east from El Paso to Marfa on Texas Highway 90, amid a barren stretch of scrub grass and mesquite bushes, you will indeed pass by an incongruous building that, at first glance, looks a lot like a Prada store plopped in the middle of the desert. Artists who are seemingly so eager to promote themselves, to get some mentioning at any costs, are willing to even smash up fellow artists’ works in order to appear in the spotlight for a little while.”, The vandal gave an interview to the blog HyperAllergic, where he admitted he was unfamiliar with Elmgreen & Dragset’s body of work, and that the “the true vision of allowing” Prada Marfa “to decay wasn’t living up.” When asked if they would consider a dialogue with the vandal, Elmgreen & Dragset responded: “It is totally fine not to agree with other artists’ aesthetics or concepts but a basic rule for any social behavior is to accept that there are other points of view than one’s own which means that you don’t just attempt to destroy everything around you that you might not like. When the Prada store installation appeared in Marfa, Texas, a city with a population under 2,000, back in 2005, it changed the landscape entirely. Prada Marfa was supposed to stick out like a sore thumb, but it seems less out of place now that Marfa itself has become something of a high-end brand name. After all, the region boasts the darkest (read: least light-polluted) skies in America, a fun fact that underscores its relative remoteness and vast swaths of vacant space. The Design Lover’s Guide to Marfa. “The installation was initially meant as a sort of an experiment,” Elmgreen & Dragset explained recently (the two were in Hong Kong for the opening of a new show at Perrotin). There’s a paradox sitting in the West Texas desert: a Prada store, with thousands of visitors but no customers. Located on a barren stretch of highway one mile west of Valentine TX, the artwork will never function as a place of commerce, since … (They note that, in 2005, Instagram wasn’t even around yet.) Beyoncé’s fandom, and the fact that a sign with mileage to Prada Marfa once adorned a Gossip Girl set, helped launch a massive audience. It was not a work commissioned by the fashion brand Prada nor had the fashion brand any involvement in the creation of this work. The sculpture’s safety was entrusted to a … BEYONCE MARFA. Today, because of a man named The Art Production Fund and the artists had recently come to a solution—planning to offer Prada Marfa as a “civic gift” to the public. kitporterstudios. All of a sudden, Prada Marfa, a 2005 artwork by Elmgreen and Dragset that had long been contested and vandalized, served as the backdrop to a selfie by one of the world’s most famous performers. Even Texas-native Beyoncé is a fan. Beyoncé passed through the town in … “It was quite a blow that this person damaged the structure so badly right after,” Elmgreen & Dragset said. PRADA MARFA was created by Danish and Norwegian artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset in 2005 when they were struck by the loneliness of the desert landscape and wanted to create a … Alec had been before, but the rest of us hadn’t yet seen the living sculpture created in 2005 by the artist duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset.