Lifestyle Mirror

Just seven short hours west of Austin, the urbanite’s capital of Texan cool, SXSW home base, and home of the breakfast taco, lies another cultural capital in its own right: Marfa. With a thriving art scene and a cameo in Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros’s runaway hit video “Home,” Marfa may just be the hippest town with a population just under 2,000. The town experienced artistic renaissance in 1971 when artist Donald Judd came to town, buying up installation and gallery space along the way. And since Judd’s death in 1994, the Chinati Foundation was established to commemorate his work, featuring exhibits from the likes of Dan Flavin and Claes Oldenburg. One of the most well-known landmarks in town is undoubtedly the Prada Marfa, a permanent brick-and-mortar installation from artists Elmgreen and Dragset located on a lonely stretch of interstate. Since it’s installation in 2005, it has made its way into popular culture, being referenced on Gossip Girl and in a variety of photographs, like photographer Gray Malin’s version here. —Charlotte Steinway