Artist's Statements About Individual Works

NO MORE BU--SH--!

(Bumper stickers, buttons, signs)

When considering the re-election of George H. W. Bush in 1991, I toyed with the spelling of the president's last name -- and this solution leapt to mind in one of those pure Aha! moments. It plays on the once-common typesetting practice of inserting dashes or symbols in place of letters when the word was considered vulgar. I used the slogan on buttons and bumper stickers in 1991 and 1992; resurrected it in 2003 for the February 15 demonstration in New York City (to protest going to war in Iraq), and again in 2004 to protest the re-“election” of George W. Bush. Although the slogan sends two clear messages, it is interesting to note that a few younger people don't “get it” -- possibly because current convention seems to dictate spelling out everything, eschewing the nicety of symbols.