Page 13 - Marfa Road Trip_ Thelma and Louise, With a Happier Ending - The New York Times

1/26/2018 Marfa Road Trip: Thelma and Louise, With a Happier Ending - The New York Times
The Palace Theater, now an illustrator's studio, hosted nightly 1955 screenings of Elizabeth
Taylor and James Dean movies while George Stevens and his Warner Brothers crew
(including aforementioned stars) were shooting "Giant" outside of Marfa.
Stacy Sodolak for The New York Times

The manic energy leading up to that moment flattened out. Music turned down.
Everyone still. But that black bird was not my albatross. I wouldn’t let it be, I told
myself (and it wasn’t, but all of that driving will play tricks on you), and so we

sailed along the road, quieter, through the low tawny grass, past the sprawling
ranches along U.S. 90 to a spot we’d all been talking about visiting: The Prada

Marfa.

Then there it was, a shining beacon of consumerism, nestled into the landscape,

this landmark, Prada Marfa (https://ballroommarfa.org/archive/prada-marfa-
an-explainer/), a fake Prada store, a symbol of wealth and prosperity. Right in
the middle of the desert, about 37 miles northwest

(https://maps.google.com/maps?
daddr=U.S.+90,+TX+79854&gl=us&panel=1&fb=1&dirflg=d&geocode=0,30.603460,-104.518508&cid=
of Marfa. It’s a small building that looks like a stand-alone storefront with wide

windows. A few purses and shoes on display, donated by Miuccia Prada.
Absolutely nothing else but miles and miles of empty ranchland on each side of it.

This building is a lone rider, is as if someone had airlifted it into the desert. Or an
apocalyptic relic, the only sign left of modern commercialism.

The Berlin-based artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset built the cultural
landmark (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/29/fashion/thursdaystyles/little-

prada-in-the-desert.html) in 2005 with the help of the Marfa art collective,
Ballroom Marfa. In 2014, Beyoncé did a split jump in front of the structure,

posting it to her Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/nDaZ5hPwzb/) and
sealing the Prada Marfa’s cultural fate forever.

A pink sky erupted around the building as we modeled in our most
Instagrammable poses. This may sound cliché, but at sunset, it truly does feel
like you’ve entered a painting. So yes, the visit to Prada Marfa was worth it. Dead

bird and all.

In the morning, we hit Marfa Burrito again to fuel up before our drive out of

town.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/travel/marfa-texas-road-trip.html?hpw&rref=travel&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®i… 13/19