Cowboy

Untitled (Cowboy)
Richard Prince
1989, Still From Marlboro Commercial

Richard Prince's work has always been interested in appropriation. Whether creating paintings of bookcovers, taking stills from films, or taking old jokes and painting them on canvases, Prince attempts to point out the art where others would most likely ignore it. This Cowboy, an image of the American West, manliness and Marlboro Cigarettes is no exception. While Prince offers no judgement in his selection of this celluloid moment, calling attention only to the sand surging up under the horse's hooves and the apparent closeness of the clouds above the cowboy's head, the viewer cannot help but be reminded that every actor who portrayed the "Marlboro Man" died of lung cancer.