ART & DESIGN

TOMS vs. Prada

The Marfa, Texas, installation receives another blow

by Kat Herriman

Prada Marfa

Last fall, rumors circulated that Texas lawmakers were going to shut down Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset’s Prada Marfa (2005)—an art installation in the form of a fake storefront located right outside of the West Texas town. Now, the sculpture has been hit again. This time, with powder-blue paint. Over the weekend, a renegade vandal took it upon himself to desecrate the site-specific exterior, reimaging it as a “TOMS Store” with a spotty paint job and a smattering of paper signage in the hopes of promoting a less-luxury-more-globally-focused message. Ironically, the aspiring artist behind the destruction seems to have overlooked the fact that Prada Marfa is not meant as an idolization of consumerism but rather a critique—and that TOMS, much like Prada, is far from a non-profit organization.