Richard Prince, Man Crazy Nurse #3, 2003

Narrator: Who is Richard Prince’s nurse? Dressed in a prim uniform, her face obscured by a surgical mask, she stands before a backdrop smeared with lurid color. Is she calmly efficient, benevolent, sinister, sexy—or all of the above?

Prince’s Nurse series is based on the covers of 1950s medical romance novels. He transferred the novel covers to canvas and then painted out the details, leaving only the book’s title and the figure of the nurse. It is unclear though whether Prince intends to deconstruct a stereotype—or revel in a pulp fiction fantasy.

Prince became well known in the 1980s for taking photographs from advertising and mass media and presenting them as his own. The technique, called appropriation, offered a way to investigate and critique the contradictory nature of American popular culture. He has explored both cherished American icons, like the cowboy, as well as lowbrow sub-cultures, from biker chicks, to pornography and pulp fiction. Throughout his work, he carefully veils his own attitude toward the ideas and images he presents.