VIEW IN MY ROOM
United States
Painting, Watercolor on Paper
Size: 28 W x 22 H x 0.2 D in
Ships in a Box
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I painted this while in a 6x9 prison cell serving a life sentence for a first time non-violent drug crime when I passed an envelope containing 4 ounces of cocaine for the sum of five hundred dollars. Description of event that lead to creation of the work. After returning from a visit with his mother Anthony Papa was subjected to a routine strip search. However on that day a sadistic guard was assigned to search him. In a small booth, with no door, the guard ordered Papa to take off his clothing and assume the standard search position. The guard ordered Papa to go through the routine of raising his arms, opening his mouth and then bending over to inspect his anal cavity for contraband. No contraband was found. Not satisfied with his search the guard asked Papa to spread his ass cheeks again. No contraband was found. The guard then asked Papa for the third consecutive time to spread his ass cheeks. Enough was enough Papa thought, he asked the guard what he was looking for. The guard gave no response and instead just laughed. Papa became outraged of the dehumanizing treatment he had experienced. He asked the guard to call his superior supervisor. The guard laughed again and told him to get dressed and leave or he would lock him up. Totally dehumanized Papa went to the law library to write a complaint against the guard. While researching the issue Papa discovered 20 pages of directives issued by the New York State Department of Corrections on how guards should search the body cavities of prisoners. Papa was disgusted at the dehumanizing procedures and decided to paint about this dehumanizing experience. He created automatic paintings and glued parts of the directives to them. The six pieces of work were then confiscated by the administration when Papa tried to send them out to the free world. He was charged with smuggling out Department of Corrections directives, although no such rules existed against displaying them because they were considered public documents. The prison administration gave Papa a choice, either the policy directives be removed or the paintings would be destroyed. The administration did not want thefree world to view this dehumanizing procedure. Papa was forced to strip the directives from his art work. Feeling defeated by the incident and enforcing the feeling that the prison wanted total control his life, even his creative process. Despite the years of behavior modification techniques that the prison subjected him to, his creative impulse took control and forced Papa to speak out against this dehumanizing experience. He recreated the cut up directives and then made diagrams of each painting and smuggled them along out through the mail. Despite the risk of losing his pending quest for executive clemency Papa took the chance in order to try and tell the outside world of the dehumanizing experience of body cavity searches. A year later Papa 's wish came true. He was granted clemency and upon his release he had an art exhibit in a NYC gallery. He reassembled the contraband series and it was displayed at the Outsider Gallery. The work was then featured in the NY Times where the free world learned of body cavity searches!
Original Created:1999
Subjects:Abstract
Materials:Paper
Styles:Abstract Expressionism
Mediums:WatercolorInk
Painting:Watercolor on Paper
Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork
Size:28 W x 22 H x 0.2 D in
Frame:Not Framed
Ready to Hang:Not applicable
Packaging:Ships in a Box
Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.
Handling:Ships in a box. Artists are responsible for packaging and adhering to Saatchi Art’s packaging guidelines.
Ships From:United States.
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United States
My next showing is at Shifting Shore Lines Wallach Gallery Columbia University October 2024 - Jan 2025 It is a group exhibit showing my Hudson River art at Columbia University Lenfest Center for the Arts New York Times’ art critic Roberta Smith praised Papa's most famous painting "15 Years To Life" exhibited at The Whitney Museum in the Mike Kelley Retrospective in 1994 as an "ode to art as a mystical, transgressive act that is both frightening and liberating, releasing uncontrollable emotions of all kinds." Papa is a political artist and his bio can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Papa Papa is the author of This Side of Freedom: Life After Clemency, ( optioned 2018 to become a feature film) His first book 15 to Life: How I Painted My Way to Freedom (2004), is a memoir about his experience with the criminal justice system. Papa has been interviewed by a wide range of national print and broadcast media, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, National Public Radio, “Democracy Now,” Court TV, “Extra,” C-Span, WPIX, RNN among others. His art has been exhibited widely from the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York to many cultural centers, and he has appeared on nationally syndicated talk shows such as CNN's Your Money, MSNBC Live withTamron Hall, “Charles Grodin,” “Geraldo Rivera,” and “Catherine Crier Live.” His website is 15tolife.com. Papa is influenced by Leon Golub painter of darkness , Pablo Picasso, and the Mexican Muralist Diego Rivera.
Artist featured by Saatchi Art in a collection
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