Study for Airlooms (Angus Whyte and Richard Prince)

2009
Linocut
Edition size: 20, 1 keyline
Image: 9″ x 6″
Frame: 15″ x 12″

When describing some of Richard Prince’s early work in his collection, Angus Whyte said that the artist called the lampshade-like figures hanging above many of the subjects’ heads an “airloom.” Angus said, “He meant it to represent all of the shit that people carry over their heads. But in this case he’s visualizing it.”

I made this linocut while studying relief printmaking with Juan Fuentes. It was my first visual exploration of the controversy between Prince and Whyte over the artist disavowing his early works. Here, I’ve portrayed both Whyte and Prince with airlooms hovering over their heads to show how the experience both drew from and added to their mental baggage.