Joey Skaggs
Joey Skaggs
Joey Skaggsis an American prankster who has organized numerous successful media pranks, hoaxes, and other presentations. Skaggs is one of the originators of the phenomenon known as culture jamming. Skaggs has used Kim Yung Soo, Joe Bones, Joseph Bonuso, Giuseppe Scaggioli, Dr. Joseph Gregor, and the Rev. Anthony Joseph as aliases...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCelebrity
CountryUnited States of America
early figure mainstream news portrayed
As a news story, I'm just a subject, not a person. My early performances were provocative, so I was stereotypically portrayed as a counter-cultural figure by the mainstream media.
news public question
They don't want the public to question their credibility as an investigative news source.
although primarily spectrum trained wide
I was primarily a painter, although I was classically trained in a wide spectrum of mediums.
although issues life past pieces pleased seems work
I look at past work as completed, although I'm pleased that each of the pieces seems to have a life of its own and that the issues are still relevant.
antithesis art business creative decided early process realized
I realized early on that the business of art was the antithesis to the creative process and I decided to circumvent the traditional art market.
artist difficult loved painting realized seriously taken
I loved painting and sculpting, but realized how difficult it was for a young artist to be taken seriously by the art establishment.
building east fifty foot fun grotesque hung liberty placed poke statues street treasury village wall war workers
In 1969 I hung a Fifty Foot Brassiere on the US Treasury Building to poke fun at leering Wall Street workers and placed grotesque Statues of Liberty in Astor Place in the East Village as a war protest.
attempted burn bus central cultural exchange hippie nativity organized park protest queens satirical tour vietnamese village war
In 1968 I organized the Hippie Bus Tour to Queens as a satirical cultural exchange tour and I attempted to burn down a Vietnamese Village Nativity I erected in Central Park to protest the war in Vietnam.
built comment dragged four hypocrisy inhumanity protest street
In 1966, I built a crucifix and dragged it down the street on four consecutive Easters to protest man's inhumanity to man and to comment on the hypocrisy of the church.
anyone highly
But I'm as susceptible as anyone else. At the same time, I'm highly skeptical.
criticized inspired media
How the media interpreted (they got it wrong), editorialized (they condescended) and criticized (they attacked) these performances inspired me to actually use the media more directly, to make my point.
access business figured government media messages
If government and big business could access the media to get their messages out, I figured I could too.
easily fact fiction internet reliable source supposedly ubiquitous
I wanted to use the Internet because while fact and fiction are so easily manipulated and blurred, it has also become an ubiquitous and supposedly reliable source for information.
amazed amused people
I want people to be amused or amazed but fooled.