Contraband

What's in a name? A self-fulfilling prophecy? Every collage is stolen goods - contraband. These collages were made by ripping up old issues of Wired magazine (no scissors were involved). Effectively, I had purloined the content of these works from the advertisements and illustrations of Wired. Not even a misdemeanor! Yet, the collages were suspicious enough that while enroute from London to Tokyo by way of Abu Dhabi, I was stopped at Heathrow so that the collages specifically could be examined by customs. The British customs agent turned the artworks this way and that, tested them for explosives, looked at each one carefully and then returned them to me, saying, "They're very nice collages! Did you make them?". After a friendly chat I was on my way. These collages literally circumnavigated the globe with me before - finally - they were stolen from the back of my Citroen station wagon sitting in front of my house in broad daylight. Ultimately, they became genuine contraband - stolen art - in someone else's possession. Contraband indeed!

The piece titled, "Dog Cream Cone Surveillance Childhood" was the basis for Suffragette City, a pen and ink tribute to the late David Bowie.