Untitled (Hand with Cigarette)

'Most of what's passing for information right now is total fiction,' Prince remarked. 'I try to turn the lie back on itself'. In so doing, he also challenged the traditional role of the artist as creator, and the very meaning of creation, while presenting an alternative definition of invention, one located outside the concept of a signature style'
(L. Phillips, "People Keep Asking: An Introduction", Richard Prince New York 1992, p.27).

Richard Prince's art derives from a lineage that traces generations from Duchamp to Warhol, to Kosuth, Baldessari, Gilbert and George and Dan Graham. Untitled (Hand with Cigarette) is a seminal work. Prince uses codified visual language and employs techniques of cropping and seriality to decipher "advertising's messages of seduction and alienation by revealing the stereotypical character of gestures, poses and expressions" (ibid. 27).