Meme to End All Memes

College Art Association Conference, Los Angeles, CA, 2018

Alt-Aesthetics: The Alt-Right and the New Turn in Appropriation

Street Artists for Trump… Just Kidding. There Weren’t Any.

Southeastern College Art Conference, Columbus, OH, 2017

Art of the Zeal

How Does a Patriot Act?

College Art Association Conference, New York, NY, 2013

New Media Caucus, Art in the Age of High Security

Media-N - Journal of the New Media Caucus

ARTnews - The Joke’s on Us

by Ann Landi

During a panel called “The Art of Pranks” at the College Art Association (CAA) conference in New York last February, a participant identified as Clark Stoeckley, “artivist,” maintained an impassive demeanor as his scholarly copanelists delivered papers on Dada, Fluxus, and other notorious movements past and present. Stoeckley stood out on account of his cop’s uniform, and when he got up to speak on the topic of New York City pranksters, identified himself as a member of the NYPD Vandal Squad Task Force. He explained that he was a former undercover detective in the East Village who became a “street-art archivist” and was eventually promoted to the rank of lieutenant for his insider knowledge of graffiti crews and activist groups.

Stoeckley’s talk covered the gambits of street artists from Banksy and Shepard Fairey to the Guerrilla Girls and the artist known as Mat Benote (Make Art That Benefits Everyone Not Only the Elite). Although he seemed a bit awkward in front of an audience, he punctuated his stories with wry observations that drew appreciative laughter. “This is the stuff that really brightens our day,” he remarked about the graffiti, “and in many cases teaches cops like me a lesson about the Constitution.”

The presentation was so entertaining and unexpected that this reporter wrote it up for ARTnews—only to be informed by editors that “Lieutenant” Stoeckley had no affiliation whatsoever with the NYPD and was himself an artist with a long history of performance-based work. It was like getting rooked into buying a line of cosmetics from Rrose Sélavy. Read more

New York City Pranksters - The Art of Pranks

College Art Association Conference, New York, NY 2011