Two concepts support the Badge of Quality Corporation art show. First, the corporation is an extension of Western individualism; it is a legal, social and logical construct that takes many people and from them creates a new identity. For this reason, many successful corporations embody their abstract identity in a graphic form--Disney in Mickey Mouse or Pirelli in Bibendum or countless others.

The Badge of Quality Corporation bases its existence and practice on the life of Mr. Milk Bottle. His story begins obscurely in the Civil War, becomes more focused with the introduction of his arch-enemy, the Evil Red Baseball during the Great Depression, and then encounters tragedy when he is run over by a steamroller. Harry S Studebaker, reclusive inventor and financeer, miraculously reconstructs Mr. Milk Bottle, who then becomes the embodiment of The Badge of Quality Corporation, Studebaker's gigantic arts and entertainment empire.

Mr. Milk Bottle's story introduces the second concept of the show: death and resurrection as it relates to economic practice. When a client buys a print from the show, he or she is buying a Piece of the Action: that is, a piece of Mr. Milk Bottle. The understood transaction means that the client will repeat what Harry S Studebaker did: that is, he or she will then take that piece of Mr. Milk Bottle and throw it to the winds in the hopes that it will take root and grow and increase in value. Ancient agricultural practice, ancient practice of value. Food. And art.

My presentation of these concepts and the artistic forms they have taken is necessarily brief -- I haven't discussed the interactive computer game called ASK MR. MILK BOTTLE, the web site, the Badge of Quality rubber stamp, the fake tattoos of Mr. Milk Bottle, the t-shirts or other things I use in this show, but they are all a part of it. You, as a gallery owner, now have the chance to become a part of the Badge of Quality experience. Through the act of selling my work, the gallery becomes part of the art.

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