Richard Prince “Third Place” for Desert X, a site-specific contemporary art exhibition for the California desert, curated by Naville Wakefield

Artists from different parts of the world have been invited to make work that responds to the unique conditions of Palm Springs and the surrounding Coachella Valley. The themes and locations of the exhibition engage surrounding communities, other Valley organizations, visitors, and students through works that respond to environmental, social and cultural conditions specific to the Valley, while also focusing attention on the creative energy of the participating artists and their work.

Among the internationally recognized artists living and working around the world and locally who are part of the exhibition, are Doug Aitken, Lita Albuquerque, Jennifer Bolande, Will Boone, Claudia Comte, Jeffrey Gibson, Sherin Guirguis, Norma Jeane, Armando Lerma, Glenn Kaino, Gabriel Kuri, Richard Prince, Rob Pruitt, Julião Sarmento, Phillip K Smith III, and Tavares Strachan.

Richard Prince describes Third Place as, “The House where my family used to live and are now having a reunion.” Strip mining the surface of American cultural life, Princes’ work often exposes the darker sub-currents of sexual and familial tension as they expose themselves through humor and other tropes of psychological dysfunction.

‘Third Place’ is, as the title suggests, the third of a series of structures that adopt a vernacular architectural form as the housing for material that speaks to the interior life of its recently departed occupant. Like previous houses, it suggests a place where, one observer put it, ‘the circuitry of human relationship was completely shorted out and charred.’ Run-down and little saddle-sore the house in Desert Hot Springs might suggest a cowboy’s retreat. Plastered with ‘Family Tweets’ and the odd rendering of the artists himself, Third Place reveals itself as a three dimensional portrait – a state of mind as much a state of place.

Desert X runs until April 30th.

Photo Bill Powers

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