Richard Prince

New Cowboys represents a self-reflexive evolution of Prince's most iconic and polarizing body of work. Nearly four decades after he first began rephotographing Marlboro cigarette advertisements to critique the mass-media construction of American masculinity, Prince returns to the same mythological imagery. However, rather than presenting the rugged, romanticized frontiersmen as seamless commercial illusions, this publication deliberately foregrounds the physical degradation of his source material. The project shifts the conceptual focus from the pristine myth of the cowboy to the fragile, ephemeral nature of the printed advertisement itself.

The visual aesthetics of this oversized volume rely heavily on the explicit decay of the original magazine tear-sheets. In these large-scale reproductions, the creases, scratches, torn edges, and surface abrasions of the paper are not cropped out or retouched; instead, they are magnified and celebrated as integral components of the image. This unapologetic inclusion of the physical wreckage transforms the familiar commercial cowboys into weathered, ghostly artifacts. The high-contrast, often grainy texture of the worn paper emphasizes the mediation of the image, turning a piece of disposable advertising into a tactile record of time and handling.

The book serves as a poignant reassessment of Prince's own legacy of appropriation, acknowledging the passage of time on both the subject matter and the physical medium.

This is the trade edition.

ISBN is not printed in the colophon.

Essay from Prince released with coinciding show at Gladston Gallery in 2015. No Date, Colophon or ISBN in book.

Richard Prince 1234 / Instagram Recordings (2019) is a multi-volume conceptual project by Sébastien Girard that functions as a deliberate act of "meta-appropriation," targeting the digital footprint of American appropriation artist Richard Prince.

In 2015, Richard Prince, infamous for his "New Portraits" series where he appropriated and sold other people's Instagram posts, started his own Instagram account under the handle "@richardprince1234".

Recognizing the ephemeral nature of the platform, Sébastien Girard set up an automated script to silently record and archive every single post Prince made to the account. Two years later, Prince's account was shut down. Girard took his digital archive of 2,664 deleted posts and decided to create an "analog restitution" of what he called a two-year "free concert" played by Richard Prince himself. By systematically archiving and physically publishing the personal feed of the art world's most famous appropriator, Girard created a perfect, critical loop of reappropriation.

The complete archive is divided chronologically into 12 staple-bound softcover volumes, totaling roughly 560 pages. Leaning into the "live concert" metaphor, Girard packaged each volume inside a 12-inch (33 rpm) vinyl record sleeve, complete with a protective transparent outer sleeve and sticker.

Girard used the 2,664 recorded Instagram posts to generate the album artwork. Because of the vast number of images, the covers across the edition are highly randomized and unique.

The project was entirely self-published, printed, and hand-bound by Girard in his studio in a strict limited edition of 150 copies.

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