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...Our greatest weapon in those carefree days was sheer size and we
worked purposefully on a large scale. We took on, in the biggest of ways,
political figures, professors of academies, government officials and members of
the art elite. One of our favourite tricks was to paint massive canvasses -
sometimes even sheets were used - in a photo realistic style and then unveil
the works in a variety of public locations. Most of the time, in those days at
least, it was too dangerous to approach the media who, invariably, would show
up after the fact and not get our names or the locations of our underground
workshops. Much of our subject matter was indeed extreme, as were elements of
the larger movement, and friction with the police was more and more frequent
and now planned for as inevitable. There was to be a bridge opening and we decided to unveil our current
art attack before the crowd that would be sure to assemble. It proved to be a
risky adventure for the Queen was to show up for this opening - apparently, the
bridge was a landmark of contemporary architecture - and her appearance would
assure a heavy security presence. There were also a different set of laws
governing the public’s conduct concerning royalty and these rules would likely
be in place at this function. The massive cloth that we had painted did not
depict royalty directly but was rather an insult to a couple of government
officials who had cut spending to the arts. These two were painted in a
sadomasochistic position complete with whip and handcuffs. We rolled it up and
placed it in the van and waited the two days before the bridge opening to
unfurl our pictorial politics. Because of the certainty of a police presence, we planned our campaign
accordingly. Lately, the authorities had been taking a dim view of our art
attacks and were now doing more to apprehend us and shut down our clandestine
operations. However, because of the non violent nature of our attacks, there
was not much the authorities could do even when they did catch one of us and they
would have to lay a mischief or disturbing the peace charge which were by no
means serious offences. We were walking a fine line and we knew it. Indeed, we
consulted our lawyers before embarking on any attack. We knew that crossing the
line could result in a terrorist charge which was a far more serious offence
than disturbing the peace. As usual, we had to be careful and even more so
given that this operation would be witnessed by the Queen. This had not always been the case. In the early days of our campaigns,
before we had become a quasi formal organization, we didn’t concern ourselves
with legal issues and, if the police questioned us, we invariably told them
that our actions were “art” and they bothered us no further. One such campaign,
executed years earlier, took place in a subway station. A friend of mine had
put together a number of harnesses with which we hung ourselves to some steel
rafters on one of the platforms. With show ropes we made it look like we were
hanging by our necks. As you can imagine, this got some strange looks and
shortly thereafter some security guards appeared. When we told them that we
were doing “art,” the supervisor told us to be on our way or they would call
the police. We didn’t feel like an encounter with the police so we unhooked
ourselves and disappeared into the anonymity of the city, our point being
made. In those days we had a strange sense of “fun” indeed and we did not
really see these campaigns as either artistic or political in nature. It wasn’t
until a philosophy developed, that such actions began to take on a deeper
significance and were with greater consideration conceived. Once a nexus was in
place between the members of our group and our varying philosophies and
approaches, we began a movement and followed it with exact precision. That is
what differentiated us from the other outfits - our skill and the architecture
of our projects. By the time of the bridge campaign our actions were beginning
to get international attention. And with the attention there came an even
greater eagerness on the part of the authorities to apprehend us. We had begun taking certain precautions even in those early days. It
was a policy, for example, to use only first names, but, as the need for
precaution grew, we began also to withhold personal addresses from one another.
We were at war, as we perceived it, and we strove always to stay out of the
hands of the police and the cells they could throw us into. I remember one year
when two of my accomplices were caught while infiltrating a theater production
at the state auditorium. They were thrown in jail for that stunt and got one
year each in the local detention center. A lot of time for a five minute
audience. But then there was the publicity... Publicity was often a factor in the design of the campaigns and
attention was frequently paid to securing a media presence. At other times the
audience was a more select one as was the case when we dealt with members of
the political or art elite. Often we crashed their parties and caused a ruckus
before escaping inconspicuously into the dark night. Some of our members were
also known to use drugs to cause confusion. A hit of thlacyd into a cup of
coffee and the victim will soon wonder what strange thing is happening. I
myself refrained from such attacks not quite agreeing with the ethics of it.
Some drugs could certainly cause one to fear insanity if one knew not that a
drug had been ingested. No one in the group pushed the point and those who used
such tactics did so with impunity from the other members. Each one of us shared
a different philosophy and approach. I suppose now that this was our biggest
strength - our diversity. We each attacked the problem from a different angle. What then was the shared goal of our collective endeavors? Clearly,
because of our association, we all shared in each other’s “crimes” loose though that association may have been.
Our shared goal, stated simply, was no less than causing a cultural and mental
shift in contemporary and future societies. Although it may sound grandiose, we
all shared an extreme dislike for contemporary society and pop philosophy and
sought to undermine it. Furthermore, most of us were artists and we had many
ideas of what to supplant this pop culture with. True, the majority of us were
working completely underground, but that did not mean that we were without
money. A few of us were involved in the drug trade and others held day jobs. I
made my money through sales to a few
private collectors who were interested in my artistic endeavors. I had more
than enough to cover living expenses and to contribute to the projects. In those days I had not only an apartment but also a studio and
workshop. I kept a bed in my work space as well and I generally moved every
couple of days between these two locations. The studio was in a complex of
buildings and I had access to several rooms if I needed them. A couple of other
artists also used the space but I had little to do with them. Occasionally I
would throw parties and I would have to get their permission to do so. I would
have invited them to these parties but they were too straight laced for our
drug and music festivities and they would have disapproved. I kept my distance
as much as possible. Not many knew that this was my studio and, when I threw
these parties, it was under the illusion that the space had been rented. As
usual, it was out of concern for security. Even in those days I was beginning to take precautions. The art
was getting very subversive indeed... |