Legalizing Painting
Much of my work - from ‘100 Men I Never Met’ to ’N.S.A.L.A’ - has involved the appropriation of images published on the internet. However, after the Luc Tuymans verdict, followed by a legal action against myself regarding the ‘Following G.’ series, it became obvious to me that it is no longer safe for painters to base their work on found images. What was thought of as traditional - following the work of Tuymans, Richter, Warhol, Rauschenberg and too many others to mention - is now illegal in Europe. Though the internet has become part of our reality, painters are no longer free to depict it as they wish.
I have therefore begun to legalize some of these paintings through the action of painting over them while blindfolded and gagged, in order to feel the artistic restraints due to copyright laws on my own body. Some paintings may be exhibited, while others remain illegal. These paintings cannot be shown without threat of legal action and will be treated as Black Market contraband.
