Think what you like, but I know it's true because I was there, dammit !

In 1987 I was working various stupid office jobs around Los Angeles - courier in Century City, mail clerk downtown - you know. I had free access to copy machines, a bursting creativity and very little money - the combination led inexorably to the creation of a new form of artwork which I dubbed "xerographic art": The exploitation of photo copiers toward perverse artistic ends.

I devised a variety of twisted tricks, techniques and warranty-voiding modifications, breaking (in some cases literally) new photo copier ground - no computers, just good ol' fashioned hands-on hack.

Examples include

Repetitions: Putting a copy back in the blank paper tray and copying on top of it. Repeat. Reversing the paper - repeat. Modifying the subject slightly - repeat.

Paper Hacks: Peppering the blanks with eraser crumbs. Folding the paper. Wrinkling the paper, then flattening it. Splattering hot wax on the paper, then washing and ironing it, then back to the blanks tray. Driving over the paper with a car or just using paper you find on the side of the road.

'Alternative' Media such as paper bags, newsprint, legal briefs, napkins, Christmas wrap - if it's flat and not too combustible, I've probably stuck it in a photocopier before. :grin:

Loss of Quality: Out-of-bounds contrast adjustments, low toner and of course Nth-generation duplicates can all be exploited to turn Ronald Reagan into the Anti-Christ (not much of a stretch, really) or scissors into the night sky of Belgrade during a bombing raid.

Inexplicably, it was these off-hours experiments that earned my first serious attention from L.A.'s "real" art community. After distributing hundreds of copies of my "Scissors" series around Hollywood, I was introduced to the publisher of Roh Wedder, the L.A. counterpart of a snooty German art mag. Two pieces from "Scissors" were published in the spring of 1988 - and I immediatly discovered I hated the art community. 8-)

Anecdote: After the mag, someone offered me $50 for "the original" Scissors - if I could have made sense of his offer, I might have taken it - but, the original of a photocopy? Even I'm confused now. Perhaps the actual scissors?

It wouldn't make sense to produce this kind of material without a computer these days, but I'll probably find a use for it somehow. I really should, 'cause I've got reams of it.

Click on the view-thumbnails to view each piece

This is unquestionably my very first xerographic artwork ever. Several images obviously led up to it, but I can still recall the moment I first realized I could actually create art this way, and this was the piece of paper that drove that home. Age check: How can you tell whether the copyright at the bottom is from a "real typerwriter"? If you know, for your own sake, don't answer. 8-)

Guess what: More scissors. I like this one, lots of dark spaces and noise. It looks like two different pairs of scissors but it's actually just different magnification levels. There's a glossiness in these old-tech photocopies that doesn't scan but it still looks cool.

Rubber bands are amazing subjects for Xerographers: With a wide variety of contrasts over a very small surface area, they lend themselves well to unique 'personalities' such as wrinkles, blemishes and other "imperfections". All of these rubber band pieces have always felt a little, hmm, sensual to me, somehow (do not ask me how).

Guess what: More rubber bands! This one is perfectly symetrical - or, erhm, is it? I really dig the wheels from the copier lid - they're beautiful! This one would've been the result of repeated copying on the same sheet, modifying the position of the bands slightly each time - there must be over 6 copies crammed on there - I like the effect.

Well okay not exactly hot since they were made in the late 80's but you'll still be warmed by the complete Scissors series as well as 'freida' and more sensuous rubber bands.