At the 2004 Fringe cabaret, on the last night of the Fringe Festival, a woman was at the bar with a Leather Impression Paddle with the word LOVE cut out of it. She was slapping people with it and the area she slapped was red except for where the word was cut out, which remained white. As a printmaker who likes to experiment with materials and new ways to make prints, I was intrigued and wanted to look at this as a potential medium.
A lot of the way I work is through trial and error. Typically I won’t even know if a medium is going to work until I’m too far along in the project; I am simply making an assumption that it will. To try out this particular medium, I saw the Fringe Cabaret as a perfect proving ground for this experimental process.
Unfortunately, the results were mixed, there wasn't enough of a controlled atmosphere to make the impressions, the paddles may have been too detailed, or not cut deep enough. I wouldn't call the project a failure, however, it was completely eye opening to me in terms of engaging with the public as an artist, and it was practically amazing as to how many people would willingly pull down their pants in public.

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Nick Stuccio
Fringe Executive Director

back to scenes of revelry and disgust