“This is painting tarp. They sell them really big, really thin sheets
of brown paper. I just ordered a 90-pound roll of recycled packing newsprint.
I had to get that up my stairs. Some of it is a just white paper, sign
writers bond. I have a big roll of dumpstered fashion pattern paper, that
somebody found for me. I like the newsprint a lot for the way it decays.
The white paper just kind of peesl and stuff, but the newsprint really
rots. I do use a lot of newspaper as well. I just love the way the newspaper
looks.”

“I’m trying to use more recycled materials in my work. My dream
right now is to build an off-the-grid, totally environmentally sustainable
houseboat. And do traveling projects throughout the country.”

Have you been drawing since you were a little kid?

“I began drawing as a really little kid. I began painting with oil
at the age of ten, and then I studied realism when I was a kid, and was
into classical painting. And then I started to become interested in modern
expressionistic stuff. And then I went to art school (Pratt
Institute) and studied painting for a couple of years. Then I got
really frustrating with the art of painting and the normal kind of outlet
for people to do art and to experience art.

Incidentally I started doing printmaking at the same time that I started
thinking about working on the street. There is something about the ability
to reproduce things yourself, in a rough raw way. The printing press has
a certain amount of power with one person’s ability to distribute
information. I think that’s why a lot of relief print is associated
with political work.”