After taking a hiatus during Hurricane Sandy, Richard Prince got back to blogging this week, with a vengeance. Foremost among his concerns is ARTINFO, to which — though he’s not sure if it’s singular or plural, nor exactly what it is (for the record ARTINFO is a website, and is singular) — he sent “a huge FUCK YOU,” in his most recent post. He also claims that he had the idea for Twitter in 1990, but that it was “appropriated” by the social media company, and invites both ARTINFO reporter Judd Tully and GalleristNY editor Andrew Russeth to appear on his television program, “Who Gives a Shit?” Evidently, there’s a great deal to parse this week.
Most importantly, between sending ARTINFO a “FUCK YOU” and inviting us to “fuck the horse that I rode in on and fuck the bartender too,” Prince sets the record straight on his blog and its origins:
First let me send out a huge FUCK YOU to Artinfo.com for “re-blogging” my “blog.” This isn’t a blog asshole… (I don’t know what the fuck artinfo is so that’s why I’m guessing singular)… It’s “birdtalk.” And I’ve been “birding” since 1990. Check out early issues of Purple Magazine if you don’t believe me. And yes, ‘twitter’ stole my idea and even had the one testicle to use a “bird” as their icon. But did I sue them? No. And why? I don’t believe in copyright. You can take, steal, use, borrow, share and “appropriate” any idea I have and I won’t give a shit. It’s a free concert and I’ve got plenty of ideas. (More where that came from). And why do I “bird”? So I can empty all the stupid crap that piles up in my head before it explodes into fingernails on a blackboard and drives me insane. (I would take drugs again but I’ve got a family to feed). Do I care if anybody reads this shit? Does the Pope Smoke Dope? No. For all I care, artinfo.com can fuck the horse that I rode in on and fuck the bartender too. So now that that’s out of the way, let’s begin…
We’re saddened that Prince hasn’t picked up on our attempt to pay homage to his appropriation-based practice by appropriating (with full credits and links) select passages from Birdtalk — which, for reasons of clarity, we will continue to refer to as his blog.
In a post from Wednesday titled “Your Jammin Me Up Here… Or… Could You Get Your Head Out Of My Ass..,” Prince calls out ARTINFO’s Tully and GalleristNY’s Russeth for sharing the same brain:
Am I suppose to be nice to people who write about me? There’s a guy out there, his name is Andrew Russeth or Judd Tulley or something like that… I think it’s Russeth…(doesn’t matter, they probably both share the same brain)… and this guy Russeth describes himself as a “cultural observer”… (whatever the fuck that is)… And this guy Russeth keeps thinking about me and puts out what he’s thinking for anyone stupid enough to listen. (I’m probably the only one who reads his crap so it’s not like I’ve got much to complain about). I think Russeth also works at Metro Pictures. (Now that’s creepy). Anyway… four years ago he started drooling over my Tiffany Paintings… Well “drooling” might not be the best word… more like “heavy breathing” than drool.
While we’ll concede that both journalists are often brought to cover the same news, events, and artists for their respective publications, they are in fact distinct entities. In fact, at one point both worked for ARTINFO, so we have even seen them in the same room together and can confirm that they are not joined at the head.
Despite apparently not being too fond of Tully and Russeth, Prince graciously invites them to appear on his new game show, which sounds like a real winner:
Speaking of game shows… I’d like to extend to both Andrew Russeth and Judd Tully an invitation to appear on my new X-rated game show Who Gives A Shit?… soon to appear on Showtime. (A three show deal has recently been optioned). If they would like to appear as contestants please contact Fulton Ryder at richardprince.com. They can appear separately or fuse themselves together and Vincent Price their “easier said than done” routine…
Though we could go on and on commenting on this week’s exemplary batch of posts on Prince’s blog — including his rather eloquent comments on Manhattanites’ isolation from the realities of weather, and musings on the impressive versatility of novelists Pierre Boule and Walter Tevis — we’ll end with his response to French dealer Philippe Ségalot’s dismissive evaluation of the “Canal Zone” paintings:
When you put something out in public you better get use to getting creamed. I get it all the time. Philippe Segalot called, referred, described, my Canal Zone paintings as “vomit.” The description was in a French newspaper. Normally I wouldn’t have minded but I thought the word “vomit” was a new feather. (In my cap not his). “Wow,” I said, “that’s pretty good.” My reaction reminded me of that Mike Kelley piece… “Pants shitter, bed wetter, and proud of it.”
Inexplicably, Prince doesn’t follow-up with an invitation for Ségalot to join Tully and Russeth on “Who Gives A Shit?”
— Benjamin Sutton