Monopoly

The only art class I ever took was a calligraphy class at Cooper's Union in 1973, which probably lasted a month or two at most. I spent some time in 1974 at my Mom's house, where my old room had been improved by a big old worktable that I settled into with my art supplies and unrealistic notions about life and art.

What a wonderful Mom I have to let me have some artistic space in my life at that time to explore and play. She paid me to do her housework and cook for my remaining siblings while she worked at an investment firm.



I practiced calligraphy with various projects, this being one I finished. I gave it to one of my sisters who has had it in her attic all this time.


I lettered each one of these cards, and each piece of money one by one.

I painted the deeds and properties with gouache and used speedball points and India ink and some rulers and ruling pens I had gotten from my Uncle Ed. These were the kinds of pens that you filled a little reservoir with ink through an eye dropper.

I don't believe I had any technical pens at the time though the lack of blots and skips makes me think perhaps I did.

As you can see I lettered out the rules book and although there are a few corrections on the board it is mostly perfect in my primitive little twenty-four-year-old's style. I never got much better at lettering than that.


I constructed the box (unfortunately with rubber cement) and used my charm bracelet for the game pieces, and some stuff from the hardware store.



Even I find this piece of my archives amazing. She brought it over today saying we should sell it for a million dollars and maybe we might sell it, but it is one of a kind for sure and might only be worth a lot when I get more famous as an outsider artist, or when my collection is put together in a big truck to take to the dump.












I could get a few bucks for it at a garage sale, I'll bet. Except we're keeping it.