Welcome to Richard Prince’s world: artist builds his own mini art city in upstate New York

The spotlight was on Richard Prince in a recent Vanity Fair feature, which revealed that the elusive US artist has built his own mini art city in upstate New York. “Very few people have seen Prince’s art fiefdom in Rensselaerville,” writes the reporter Nate Freeman, who is given a very special guided tour of the compound of studios near the Catskill Mountains. “There are full-size galleries installed with his own work and full-size galleries installed with his art collection,” Freeman writes. The author also points out a warehouse storing Prince’s art collection—including works by David Hammons and Joe Bradley—along with “an operational bodyshop full of cars mid-chop, where Prince gets the hoods that he paints”. Prince’s dealer Larry Gagosian is impressed with the site. “It’s kind of Marfa: Upstate, and it’s, to me, as relevant as Marfa. It’s kind of like... Richardville,” Larry says, breathlessly.