The 23rd Is
the artist
The 23rd Is appeared dramatically on June 23rd, 1992 at the
Embarcadero Station of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system in San
Francisco, California. Some associated his appearance with an
election year and the probable result that the United States would be
not quite, but almost exactly like it was before the election. Others
believe that his appearance coincided with the reaching of a critical
mass in the quantity of MDMA located in San Francisco at the time. In
truth, the ultimate revelation of his presence was indirectly related
to the appearance of a lime green Matsuda t-shirt, overpriced at $250,
emblazoned with the words "92 Matsuda," which spontaneously arrived in
Berkeley at the same moment that The 23rd Is appeared in San
Francisco. Little else is known about The 23rd Is, beside his
propensity for paradox-mongering. You see, The 23rd Is is the first
truly metaphysical artist, working with reality, whose art may or may
not be completely non-existent. This is an outsider's perspective.
He, of course, couldn't care less.
the art
The 23rd Is uses only reality as his art. He is not concerned with
the truth. He does not necessarily create his art. He does not
necessarily claim to be an artist. He does not necessarily do
anything. He may gleefully point this out to you. And you, blinded
by the light of the conceptual movement, will call it art. He will
not. But The 23rd Is is a hypocrite. He would be quite happy if all
philosophers, priests, gurus, and others guilty of needlessly
irrelevant metaphysical speculation would quietly jump off a cliff.
He may call this "his" art.
the beret
The 23rd Is does not wear hats. He does however, possess a small
key chain with a tiny plastic likeness of something which may or may
not be a beret. If you ask him about it, he will most likely act as
if he has no idea what you are talking about.
Submitted by Justin de Weel (justin@eecs.berkeley.edu), on Thursday, May 16, 1996, from Berkeley, California, USA