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.
artwork began bringing cross dragged easter figure lower park public sculpture square sunday
So I began doing confrontational, iconoclastic performances, bringing my artwork into the public arena, like the Easter Sunday Crucifixion in 1966, which started when I dragged a 200-pound ten-foot-tall sculpture depicting a decayed figure on a cross into Tompkins Square Park on the Lower East Side.
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.
calendar kinds looking media predict stories
Other times you can use a calendar to predict the kinds of stories the media is looking for.
concerns created express outside
I was young and audacious. So I created a way to express my concerns outside of the establishment.
although primarily spectrum trained wide
I was primarily a painter, although I was classically trained in a wide spectrum of mediums.
adverse distract help original reporters seemingly
When something seemingly adverse happens, I use it as an opportunity. Controversies help to distract reporters from questioning the original premise.
dealing
I mean, who did they think they were dealing with?
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.
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.
buried issues questions remain work
The issues of my performances vary, but most of the questions buried in the work remain the same.
pay pray stay
You go to school. You stay out of trouble. You get a job. You get married. You have a family. You pay taxes. You pray to the right god. You get old (if you're lucky). And you die.
news public question
They don't want the public to question their credibility as an investigative news source.