Spy vs. Spy, 2012
I was in the Canal Zone because my parents worked for the OSS. The OSS would soon turn into the CIA. My parents were spooks. My mother told me she used to hide in people's closets. I always thought she was messing with…
From Russia with Love, 2012
I remember a house on stilts. A sidewalk. Really stiff grass. (It hurt when I crawled on it). And bugs. Big bugs. If one got in a shoe, the shoe would move across the room. There's not much else unless I watch the home…
Anyone Who is Anyone, 1985
Unbelievable and believable have become the same thing. Any view point is as good as any other. They used to call it relativity and now they call it the closest thing to the real thing. For one year he rented movies -…
I Second That Emotion, 1978
- As a mode of production, rephotography can reproduce or "manage" an already existing photograph or picture effortlessly. - You take a camera, load it with film, put the camera on a tripod, put any picture in front of…
Like A Beautiful Scar On Your Head, 2002
Like A Beautiful Scar On Your Head Have you always been funny? Richard Prince: No, I'm not so funny. I like it when other people are funny. It's hard being funny. Being funny is a way to survive. It's like that joke,…
Photospheres, 1977
-The original material comes mostly from advertising sections of contemporary mass market magazines. -Some of the material comes from travel brochures or newspaper sections advertising travel. Also sections advertising…
Portraits, 1980
I have a distinct individual personality. When I look at the pictures I take I never think about myself. I take portraits of people. When I take these portraits I'm not interested in who the people are as much as I am…
Practicing Without A License, 1977
Rephotography is a technique for stealing (pirating) already existing images, simulating rather than copying them, "managing" rather than quoting them, re-producing their effect and look as naturally as they had been…
Prior Availability, 1977
Prior Availability 1977 West 11St. NYC The material I appropriate is available to anyone who cares to use it. The fact that the material has possibly been observed or unconsciously collected by person's other than…
The Counterfeit Memory (The Thomas Crowne Affair), 1983
Today was Memorial Day, a Monday, and he had to work a twelve hour shift starting at six p.m. He usually takes about a two hour break, and when he got to the building he decided to take the break right away. (Since this…
Why I Go to the Movies Alone, 1983
A lot of people wish they were someone else. And some of us would like to exchange parts with other people, keeping what we already like and jettisoning the things we can't stand. Some people would like to try to change…
Decorating My Walls, 1978
Since I can't size myself up, I might as well size someone else up. I've said this, but I don't really believe it. I finally decided to put something up on one of the walls in my room. I decided to put up a picture of…
Bringing it All Back Home, 1988
Today I reread the first part of The White Album by Joan Didion. I put an acetate protector around the dust jacket of a first edition of Susan Sontag's On Photography, and I read parts of it again before putting it back…
Bird Talk, 2012
Some people see leaves falling from a tree and see it as, leaves falling from a tree. Others see it as an inexhaustible mystery of the signified from the mundane closed-off simulation of a world sign. The world is…
The 8-Track Photograph, 1977
The 8-Track Photograph 1977-78 West 11th St. NYC 1. original copy 2. re-photographed copy 3. angled copy 4. cropped copy 5. focused copy 6. out-of-focused copy 7. black and white copy 8. color copy Each track (or…