Renegade  Absolute Ad

Art Basel Miami is one of the largest gatherings of commercial galleries and collectors in North America. Art is stripped of context and sold for pure profit and as a way for collectors to find the next hip thing. Most artists hate being there for this process but are encouraged by the galleries or go to support friends who are overwhelmed by this process. In 2006 while there, I went into a bathroom at a bar where artists were meeting and took out the liquor advertising ads on the back of the bathroom door and replaced them with my ad about drawing. It was an attempt to both play with the ideas of illusion found in drawing and a way to parody what drawing is at the art fair, a slick commercial product. The Absolute bottle and the toilet where both chosen for their art historical references and a nod to one of the artists I believe had the most significant artistic responsibility, Duchamp. The bar was selected to remind my peers why we were all there in the first place, to toast our lifestyle and support each other, despite the evils of idea’s bought and sold.