I’ve been before, but I don’t think I got pictures. Just passed Valentine, TX – population is still 217 – same as it was a decade ago – which might be suspect – and has nothing to do with the Marfa Prada. Or Prada Marfa. Between Valentine and Van Horn, really, just outside, maybe within, the town’s limits, just a few blocks west of Valentine, there’s an art installation called Prada Marfa. Or Marfa Prada.
It was/is funded by one of the local organization, as a permanent, fixed piece of interactive sculpture. My original understanding was that the installed artwork was supposed to collect graffiti and tumbleweeds alike, and age gracefully. Alas, that’s not what has happened, as there’s an effort to undo and prevent some tagging.
As an installation piece, I’m intrigued, and as a set piece, even more so. Mirrors are located to the sides of the showroom, and therein the viewer can see – in this example – myself, peering back.
I grabbed a dozen or more images, several experimental, as the highway was none too busy that morning, and each image with varying degrees of success. In this part of the country, I’m used to wide open skies, so the clouds – hurricane remnants – were welcome texture.
I used a digital camera for most, but that final shot, grainy as it may seem, the filter helped bring out some detail like the relief of the sky in the reflections.
On the final image, it’s the usual hardware, iPhone in conjunction with an updated CameraBag.app –