‘I drive a beat-up Volvo. I keep time with a $15 watch. I wear dungarees and T-shirts’, Richard Prince told Portfolio earlier this year, describing his love of a simple life before adding that in his spare time he’s ‘learning to fly my own plane’. This split personality has been on view in the artist’s exhibitions this past year, from his wrapping of the Hong Kong Museum of Art to appearing at the cool beating heart of the exhibition Sonic Youth Etc.: Sensational Fix. Auction prices for his work have plummeted, and he’s being sued for alleged copyright infringements, but Prince has been on display where it matters most: at the Met, in The Pictures Generation; Gagosian Madison Avenue, in a solo show; and not least Pinault’s new Dogana space in Venice.