Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince’s ‘Helter Skelter’ Is Pure American Grit

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Summary

  • American artists Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince will share the stage in Helter Skelter, an upcoming exhibition at Fondazione Prada’s Venetian venue, timed with the Venice Biennale
  • The show brings the two artists together for the first time and will present over 50 works across photography, video, sculpture, installation and painting
  • A collaborative zine reflecting the artists’s creative exchange will also be on view

Artists like Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince are central to discussions of appropriation art. They’re famous for reworking existing images, and both delve into the heart of American culture, acknowledging both its celebrated ideals and its darker side.

As the Venice Biennale approaches, Fondazione Prada will exhibit a joint show featuring the work of artists Jafa and Prince at its Venetian palace. The exhibition, titled Helter Skelter and curated by Nancy Spector, explores the connections between the artists’ work, focusing on themes like who creates art, race, and how images are made. It examines these ideas within the context of today’s visual world—both its positive and negative aspects.

The exhibition will feature more than fifty artworks, including photographs, videos, sculptures, installations, and paintings. A zine created collaboratively by the artists, documenting their creative process during the show’s creation, will also be on display.

The exhibition’s title, ‘Helter Skelter,’ is deliberately chosen to reflect the complicated and often negative way the phrase is used in popular culture. The artists selected it as a provocative and unexpected element, perfectly capturing the diverse and layered nature of their collaborative work.

Though both artists work in comparable ways, Jafa and Prince focus on different aspects of American culture. Jafa delves into the complexities of Black life, particularly through music and film, while Prince examines and questions traditional ideas of white masculinity and the hidden, often troubling, side of what it means to be American.

According to Spector, both artists are ‘image scavengers’ – they freely take images from all over, including social media, magazines, advertisements, and movies, without asking permission. They then transform these found images into art simply through their own creative choices.

These artists are truly American in what they create and how they create it. They directly incorporate real-world objects and images into their art, using them as pre-made elements – almost like hidden challenges – intended to question and shake up traditional ways of thinking.

Helter Skelter will be on view at Fondazione Prada in Venice from May 9 through November 23.

Fondazione Prada Venice
Calle Corner, 2215,
30135 Venezia VE,
Italy

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2026-05-01 23:26