What I think about Richard Prince's Instagram Art

What makes a piece qualify as art? We are constantly breaking the imaginary walls that are built around the art world. Of course some things aren’t as appetizing to look at as others. But does it have to be pretty to be art? As said by Rainbow Rowell, “Art wasn’t supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.” And when it comes to Richard Prince’s “Instagram Series” it definitely isn’t the most appealing series of works but they do evoke emotion, whatever emotion it may be, disgust or fascination. It’s without a doubt provocative; young underdressed girls, racy selfies, well known celebrities.

Just knowing that much about Prince’s work makes it intriguing to most, the part that is the most controversial is these images weren’t even originally his. They were screenshotted from instagram off of the accounts of celebrities, models, and randoms. The only thing that is Prince’s work is the hollow comment he left behind on the picture.

While at first this seems like an extreme invasion of privacy, so much so that I decided to switch my instagram account to private, you have to respect the fact that he took something so common and simple and made people see it in a different light, as art. You might see his work and think, “I could do that,” but unless you have a name for yourself and the creativity to think of the idea in the first place, you can’t. The fact that people were seeing their pictures in his pieces and getting upset is a little ridiculous to me. If you’re resenting or embarrassed by a picture you posted just because it’s now being shown to a larger audience maybe you shouldn’t have posted it in the first place.

To me, real art is making an audience interpret things they see everyday in different ways. Seeing Prince’s work made me view instagram as something more than my cell phone screen. I saw his work and it made me rethink every instagram post I had made, not that my posts are distasteful or up to the standard of Prince’s subjects, it just made me ponder why we show the things we do. Art should stick in your head after you see it, and the fact that Richard Prince’s series made me think, makes me glad I saw it.