Marfa is a small town in the high desert of West Texas that is home to a new wave of contemporary artists, and it appears to be getting a lot of recognition these days. Now a magnet for artisan shops, historical architecture, and some pretty fresh art, this unlikely hipster oasis has a new art installation by Richard Phillips, best known for his hyper-realistic portraits of women. Playboy Marfa, a glowing symbol in the middle of nowhere, is a first in a series of projects commissioned by Playboy’s new creative team- Neville Wakefield and Landis Smithers- challenging the artists to capture the spirit of what Hef put in his first magazines.
This unexpected- to say the least- roadside attraction is a white neon Playboy logo hovering above a matte-black 1972 Dodge Charger perched at an 18-degree angle atop a concrete plinth, and recalls early ’70’s American culture where all aspects of life, art, politics and sex come together without contradictions. This piece represents Playboy’s relaunch of sorts, emerging out of a period of darkness and reintroducing the brand to a much younger generation. I wonder if a replica of the Playboy mansion is next?
In October 2005, a permanently installed sculpture by the Berlin artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset found its way to a desolate strip off the highway. Made of adobe bricks, plaster, paint, glass pane, aluminum frame and carpet, Prada Marfa was designed to resemble a Prada store- and to the people of Marfa, this must have looked like something that had crash landed from another planet…literally. Displaying actual Prada merchandise from the fall 2005 collection that was picked out and provided by- one of my personal hero’s– Miuccia Prada herself, this piece hints at the growth of luxury brands, the relevance of fashion, retail as tourism, and a culture devoted to buying and selling.
Unfortunately, a few days after the installation was revealed it was vandalized and spray-painted with the word Dumb, yet quickly repaired and replenished with more Prada goodies- although this time authorities will now be alerted should anyone dumb enough try to mess with a Prada handbag again. The vision for Prada Marfa is to remain untouched for years as an experiment to see how it will withstand the environs of the desert, but something tells me Miu Miu’s luxe items will always remain gorgeously timeless.
