Shopping for Shoes?
From a collaboration between the Art Foundation Fund, a non-profit that commissions and funds ambitious art projects, and Ballroom Marfa, another non-profit dedicated to contemporary art and sculpture, Prada Marfa showcases designer shoes and handbags to anyone driving the west Texas plains.
This site specific permanent installation by artists Elmgreen and Dragset was modeled after a Prada boutique in 2005, but no, one can not shop here. No shoes can be tried on, and no handbags can be shouldered.
Perhaps this is an advertising shoot? Or a personal Facebook offering....one with a held Prada shoebox and the wearing of actual Prada shoes not bought at this Prada location? Everyone who has stopped clicks selfies and "Wish you were here" postcard shots.
The Road through Marfa
“Texas?" A good friend from Vermont asked on the phone after hearing my trajectory. “Will you be going through Marfa?”
“ I was thinking of it. Why?”
“Just one of those places on my radar. Would I sell my house here and rent something in a place like that?”
“I’ll scope it out.”
This “arts hub” took off when Donald Judd, founder of the Chianti Foundation, set up shop in Marfa. Now, artists of all kinds flock here to work, study, be inspired.
“Everything is in AirBnB,” she tells me. “Anything long term rental is word of mouth, and not much of it. You could buy some acreage, but you’d have to be on premises all the time to oversee the work. Things are fairly loose with the contractors. Then there are water issues.”
Having relocated here, with her architect husband, from New York City about six years ago, she explains the town to me. Community is important, all ages represented. Art is everywhere. There is a weekly book reading. Lots to do.
And on the way out of town heading towards Alpine is the place to view the “lights”. The Marfa Lights: small light orbs in the night sky. I don’t stay to see if the orbs happen since the night temperatures are supposed to drop below freezing. I’m still chasing warmth, so I pass on through towards San Angelo.
and I'm onto living more questions in San Angelo.