TOMS vs. Prada

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.