“L’image volée,” includes more than 90 works produced by over 60 artists from 1820 through the present day. Demand’s idea for the exhibition is to explore the way we all rely on pre-existing models, and how artists have always referred to existing imagery to make their own. Questioning the boundaries between originality, conceptual inventiveness and the culture of the copy, the project focuses on theft, authorship, annexation and the creative potential of such pursuits.
The exhibition presents three possible investigations: the physical appropriation of the object or its absence; theft as related to the image per se rather than the concrete object itself; and the act of stealing through the making of an image. The exhibition has been conceived as an eccentric, unconventional exploration of such topics through empirical inquiry. Rather than an encyclopedic analysis, it offers visitors an unorthodox insight into a voyage of artistic discovery and research.” — Fondazione Prada
Poster for the exhibition “L’image volée” at Fondazione Prada © John Baldessari, 2016. A police officer hands the packed frames of the stolen paintings, to a colleague, from outside the Paris Museum of Modern Art, following the stealing of five paintings Thursday May 20, 2010. Police and prosecutors say a lone thief has stolen five paintings worth a total of Euros 500 million ($613 million), including works by Picasso and Matisse. Other frames of the paintings are visible at right. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)
John Baldessari Poster for the exhibition “L’image volée” at Fondazione Prada © John Baldessari, 2016. Police officers search for clues as they pack up the frames of the stolen paintings outside the Paris Museum of Modern Art, following the report of five paintings having been stolen, Thursday May 20, 2010. Police and prosecutors say a lone thief has stolen five paintings worth a total of Euros 500 million ($613 million), including works by Picasso and Matisse and Modigliani. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)
From left to right: Empty frame of Vincent van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr. Gachet (1890). John Baldessari “L’image volée” poster, 2015 – 2016. Stolen Pictures, 1948, Brochure. Photo Delfino Sisto Legnani Studio. Courtesy Fondazione Prada
From left to right: Richard Artschwager, Stolen Rug, 1969, carpet. Andreas Slominski, Stolen Pump, 1998, metal, rubber. Maurizio Cattelan, Untitled, 1991, ink and stamps on paper. Photo Delfino Sisto Legnani Studio. Courtesy Fondazione Prada
From left to right: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Autoportrait de Raphael, 1820 – 1824, oil on canvas. Cy Twombly, Copy of a Picasso, 1988, acrylic on canvas. Pierre Huyghe De Hory, Modigliani, 2007, oil on canvas. Maurizio Mochetti, Mochetti di Mochetti (Jean Harlow),1976, Conté de Paris on paper. Sturtevant, Warhol Marilyn (study for Warhol diptych), 1973, silkscreen and acrylic on canvas. Louise Lawler, Marilyn, 1999, cibachrome, museum mount. Photo Delfino Sisto Legnani Studio. Courtesy Fondazione Prada
From left to right: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Autoportrait de Raphael, 1820 – 1824, oil on canvas. Cy Twombly, Copy of a Picasso, 1988, acrylic on canvas. Pierre Huyghe De Hory, Modigliani, 2007, oil on canvas. Photo Delfino Sisto Legnani Studio. Courtesy Fondazione Prada
“L’image volée” exhibition view at Fondazione Prada, Milano. Photo Delfino Sisto Legnani Studio. Courtesy Fondazione Prada
Background wallpaper (left): Sara Cwynar, 72 Pictures of Modern Paintings, 2016, wallpaper. Right: Francis Bacon, slashed canvases, oil on canvas. Photo Delfino Sisto Legnani Studio. Courtesy Fondazione Prada
From left to right: Asger Jorn, Rutting Stag in the Royal Forest, 1960, oil on canvas. Asger Jorn, The Sweet Life II, 1962, oil on canvas. Asger Jorn, Brotherhood Above All, 1962, oil on canvas. Background wallpaper: Sara Cwynar, 72 Pictures of Modern Paintings, 2016. Photo Delfino Sisto Legnani Studio. Courtesy Fondazione Prada
From left to right: Rudolf Stingel, Untitled, 2010, oil on canvas. Rudolf Stingel, Untitled (St. Barbara), 2009, oil on canvas. Photo Delfino Sisto Legnani Studio. Courtesy Fondazione Prada
Henrik Olesen, 2, 2016, wood, metal, paint and prints. Photo Delfino Sisto Legnani Studio. Courtesy Fondazione Prada
From left to right: Oliver Laric, Penelope, 2016, polyamide. Oliver Laric, Serial Classic, 2016, diasec print. Photo Delfino Sisto Legnani Studio. Courtesy Fondazione Prada
A Selection of Spyware (Soviet and East German spy equipment) from the Wende Museum in Los Angeles, curated by anonymous. Photo Delfino Sisto Legnani Studio. Courtesy Fondazione Prada
Exhibition curated by Thomas Demand. Exhibition architecture by Manfred Pernice.