Richard Prince Sells 'SuicideGirls' Instagram Screenshots To New York Art Fair For $90K

This Artist Stole Other People's Instagram Pics And Casually Sold Them For £60K
|

Richard Prince might just be the world's worst artist, if you can even call him that.

Known for toying with the boundaries of appropriation, Prince's latest victims are a host of Instagrammers including Sky Ferreira and Pamela Anderson, who had their posts on display at an art fair in New York.

Doe Deere, CEO of makeup line Lime Crime was also one of those to fall foul of Prince responding with:

Prince's "art" display included screenshots taken without permission from various Instagram accounts including SuicideGirls and blown up and printed on to large canvases.

The paintings were sold for $90,000 (£58,000) each and the worst part is none of the Instgrammers received a penny.

Twitter was quick to tell him what we were all thinking.

So why wasn't Prince slammed with copyright infringement, theft or any other form of judgement?

Well, technically he hasn't done anything wrong. Prince cleverly screenshot the Instagram posts after he added his own comments so that the picture along with the text underneath counted as a new original piece of "art" -- we sense your teeth grinding frustration.

The collection of 37 screenshots on display at art dealer Larry Gagosian's booth at the Frieze Art Fair in New York, sold out, which obviously confirms that art is truly in the eye of the beholder.

While most were outraged by Prince's not-so-handy work, some remained indifferent.

SuicideGirls however, attempted to play Prince at his own game by asking the "artist" if they could resell the screenshot prints for $90 each and give the money to charity.

The founder of the site, Missy wrote

Richard Prince is an artist and he found the images we and our girls publish on instagram as representative of something worth commenting on, part of the zeitgeist, I guess? Thanks Richard!

I’m just bummed that his art is out of reach for people like me and the people portrayed in the art he is selling.

So we at SuicideGirls are going to sell the exact same prints people payed $90,000 for $90 each. Do we have Mr. Prince’s permission to sell these prints? We have the same permission from him that he had from us. ;)

Prince later retweeted her comments but failed to give his opinion on whether she could sell his prints, not that anybody really cares.