Monthly Statement:
April 2006

OBJECT #30
DATE SENT: April 30, 2006
SENT TO: Nick Tauro
SENT VIA: US Postal Service

DESCRIPTION OF OBJECT: Simpsons Comics, titled: “Strike Back”. Published by Harper-Perennial. ISBN 0-06-095212-1. c. 1995 & 1996 by Bongo Entertainment. Priced at USA $11.95 and Canada $16.75. 10 1/8” x 6 5/8” x 2/8” 126 page comic book. Front cover illustration depicts Simpson family as giants, wreaking havoc on a street in downtown Springfield. Springfield’s residents (Flanders, Apu, Krusty, Mrs. Crabapple, Principal Skinner, Nelson, Moe, Mr. Burns, Milhouse) run in panic as Bart grabs the school bus and Otto, the driver, hangs on to a window. Homer shakes his fist in anger at helicopters that swarm over his head. Maggie and Lisa look on in amusement and Marge looks somewhat surprised at what is going on. The cover is stained with what appears to be grease in a quadruple circular pattern. Back cover shows illustrations of original covers of Simpsons Comics 15, 16, 17, and 18. Also depicted is giant Homer clinging to a skyscraper as he tries to grab in anger at a helicopter. Interior dedication: “To the loving memory of Snowball II: You may be gone, but the mice still fear for their lives.”

Contents of book:
Simpsons #15
Page 9: A Trip To Simpson Mountain
28: Krustyco Presents “Dartin’ Around”
29: Heinous Funnies: Kill-Er-Up With Regular
Simpsons #16
Page 39: Waitresses in the Sky
60: Itchy and Scratchy in “Lead It Bleed”
61: Kwik-E-Comics: Apu’s Incredible 96-Hour Shift
Simpsons #17
Page 71: What’s The Frequency, Simpson?
91: Bumblebee Man in “¡Ay, Que Lastima!”
93: Headlight Comics: The Dame & The Clown
Simpsons #18
Page 100: Get Fatty
121: Milhouse: The Quest For Yaz

ORIGIN AND APPROXIMATE DATE OF POSSESSION OF OBJECT: Given as a gift, most likely from a friend who has a mutual affinity for the Simpsons, probably in 1997 or so.

MOST RECENT LOCATION OF OBJECT: On top of telephone books, between work desk and shelving unit. Shelves and desk are against southeast wall of my studio.

RELATION OF OBJECT TO RECIPIENT: Nick was my student at Jersey City State College during the late 1980’s while I was an adjunct there. He later helped me as a studio assistant. He was a photo major and very serious about his work and art making. He did some fascinating impressions of some of my colleagues as well. Nick and I probably worked together in two or three classes at most, though I cannot remember exactly. His work incorporated traditional, formal strategies with a conceptual underpinning that made it rich and challenging on many levels. For his senior BFA exhibition he made urban landscape images with a 4”x5” camera, printed them as postcards, and then mailed them with cryptic messages to people whose addresses he picked at random from the local phone book. I thought it a poetic, beautiful use of the medium and an intriguing exercise in the dissemination of art. It also addressed questions surrounding audience and the availability and significance of art to people who do not seek it out. Nick’s other work, particularly that which I’ve seen lately, has a strong relation to street photography and the ironic. He has long been a lover of the Beat generation writers, Robert Frank, and the mythology of the bohemian life, which all seem to have had a strong influence on Nick as an artist. But, more to the point, Nick was the first student whom I connected with in a way that was somewhat personal, whom I felt was understanding the way I tried to teach. I recall him saying to me that when he heard me speak in class he felt I was “talking about the kinds of things that he wanted to hear”. It was one of the greatest compliments I have ever received as a teacher, and was what I intended to do when I set upon teaching as a job. Most importantly, though, were a few things Nick told me over the years. After his graduation, he worked in New York at some photo-related job. On occasion we would get together for some beers or maybe dinner. I am not sure if it was before or after he moved to New Mexico, but one night, Nick and I went to Fabian’s, a bar on 1st and Bloomfield Streets in Hoboken (since transformed into yet another ‘pub’ in this trendy, young professional neighborhood). He introduced me to a particular beer that night, which I have since forgotten. It was a light, cloudy beer that you added lime juice to and which was delicious. He also told me that night about a band called King Missle and l later received a tape of their music from him, which I played quite a bit but haven’t listened to in years. And almost casually, he mentioned the TV show, The Simpsons, which at the time (circa 1992) was in its early years. I was a typical academic TV snob. I wouldn’t watch TV much, only the news, some sports perhaps, though with the sound turned down. But Nick was quite excited by The Simpsons, telling me how intelligent it was, the strength of its writing and comedy and sarcasm. He recounted an episode where Bart is the school photographer and Milhouse comments on Bart’s work, classifying it as being in “the Arbus genre”. Nick encouraged me to give it a look. I did, and soon was hooked. I made sure I viewed or taped each episode, and found myself talking about the shows to my students, my therapist, and to a few friends who were equally smitten by the simultaneous juvenile activity and intelligence of the show. Friends who knew of my interest gave me jigsaw puzzles, key chains, dolls, pajamas, and other objects that were Simpson paraphernalia. This book was one of those gifts. The sad fact is that I have read only a bit of it, and that which I did falls sorely short of the show. The voices, pacing, and movement, are all missing, and it simply does not translate to a comic book. Maybe Nick will find otherwise. Maybe he will tell me that the comic book indeed has the strength of the ‘real’ thing. I doubt it, actually. Most likely he will find the book flat and uninspired, not the level we expect from Mr. Groenig, the Simpson’s creator. But I am sure he will see it, as did I, a symbol of something shared, a reminder of an odd circumstance in our relationship. And I hope it will provide a document of Nick’s encouragement for me to watch the Simpsons, which has led to years of laughs and fun, and eye-tearing howls of joy as the characters refer to Kant or Pete Townsend or global warming or the utter corruption of religion and politics. As Nick said, they are “talking about the kind of things I want to hear”, and curiously, intelligence, understanding, and awareness often play a big part in much of what they talk about.

RESPONSE OF RECIPIENT:

DATE OF RESPONSE:

Process: My plan is to de-accumulate objects I now own during the course of the exhibition year. I will photograph the selected object then send the object with a letter to a person who has some relationship to the object or whom I think might be interested in the object. The letter will discuss the project and tell the receiver they can keep the object, destroy it, give it away, recycle it or anything else they choose. I will ask them to document it in the place they now have it and send their image and/or written description back to me of what they did with it and where it is. I plan on de-accumulating an average of one object per week. The new images/descriptions will be placed in a plastic folder and exhibited along with a photograph of the object as it was in my possession.