In 1991 I created a performance and extended monologue called Big Chairs, at Minor Injury, a gallery in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, as part of the Shredded Money Show. For it I built, with the help of friends, a big paper mache/cardboard bank with board of trustees thrown in. The main protagonist (yours truly) as PR Guy for the Nasti Bank, attempts to get the Bohemian set to part with their dollars to help shore up his beleaguered bank, an institution that has fallen victim to the Savings and Loan Crisis. This is PART 4 of an hour long performance.
In this section Mr. Smucks shows how much the bank loves art and expresses how how appalled he is at the subsequent behavior of the artists whom he, deep down, blames for everything. They go and shake that great ladder that the likes of Michael Milken and other heros (the other guy with the beard—Ivan Boesky) of finance have climbed...and revel in their downfall! Shocked and dismayed he looks askance at his audience wondering how they could condone such cruel treatment of such amazing creators of such fabulous wealth?
