The most pressing item on my Marfa agenda was to recreate Beyoncé’s Prada Marfa photoshoot.
The 2005 permanent art installation by artists Elmgreen & Dragset sits 30 miles from Marfa, just west of the city of Valentine (pop. 134), off the left side of the US-90 highway. You can’t open the door, but glass windows reveal replicas of purses and shoes from the brand’s 2005 fall collection.
The artists’ original intention was to let the building quietly age without any continued maintenance.
“We loved the idea of the piece being born on Oct. 1 and that it will never again be maintained,” Art Production Fund’s Yvonne Force Villareal told the New York Times before the opening in 2005. “If someone spray-paints graffiti or a cowboy decides to use it as target practice or maybe a mouse or a muskrat makes a home in it, 50 years from now it will be a ruin that is a reflection of the time it was made.”
However, the artistic collaborators quickly abandoned that original plan as the building became—and continues to be—a target for vandals. (As you can see from the graffiti in the photos). This phenomenon was even featured on a new episode of The Simpsons, wherein Homer pees on the storefront…cute.
Now, local art organization Ballroom Marfa organizes regular clean-up efforts. They’ve had to get pretty creative at times.
A few days after the exhibition’s initial opening, a thief broke through the windows and stole all the luxury goods off the shelves.
Now, the bags’ bottoms are cut out and only right-footed, size 37 shoes are on display.
Me, having an Ally Maine moment
The fence surrounding the installation has become a “love lock” attraction of sorts, with visitors attaching everything from locks to initials-emblazoned love letters to an old PBR can and a hankerchief.
I feel like this should have been a Lone Star.
An equally instagram-worthy spot we didn’t make it to is the Target installation in Marathon. Next time!
Photos by Gordon Mack and Jojo.