In 1984, Richard Prince introduced a new type of format derived from a technique of grouping slides into a single internegative. These sequences of images within a single frame convey the notion that meaning is derived through inter-relatedness. While the majority of this body of work documents culturally marginalized social groups, others, such as the current lot, are purely figurative and explore the relationship between organic forms among various appropriated imagery. Untitled (Palms and decals) brings into question the issue of authorship, especially with regard to how a work’s interpretation is altered upon appropriation, which has been integral to Prince’s work.
For more than three decades, Prince's universally celebrated practice has pursued the subversive strategy of appropriating commonplace imagery and themes – such as photographs of quintessential Western cowboys and "biker chicks," the front covers of nurse romance novellas, and jokes and cartoons – to deconstruct singular notions of authorship, authenticity and identity.
Starting his career as a member of the Pictures Generation in the 1970s alongside such contemporaries as Cindy Sherman, Robert Longo and Sherrie Levine, Prince is widely acknowledged as having expanded the accepted parameters of art-making with his so-called "re-photography" technique – a revolutionary appropriation strategy of photographing pre-existing images from magazine ads and presenting them as his own. Prince's practice of appropriating familiar subject matter exposes the inner mechanics of desire and power pervading the media and our cultural consciousness at large, particularly as they relate to identity and gender constructs.