Imagine a radiation-scarred Rodin sculpture in an electric wheelchair that's also a party crasher and an "aggressive panhandling robot." Such is the automaton created by San Francisco artist Frank Garvey.
When Garvey set Goboy loose in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the radio-controlled robot screamed: "Gimme 50 cent! God says to gimme 50 cent!" The patrons responded with stupefaction and fear. At last year's Los Angeles Art Fair, several people actually assaulted the robot.
Most folks view the screaming robot-on-wheels as either a hoot, a threat, or an annoyance. However, Garvey insists that the robot's true effect is hardly so superficial: "Goboy represents the birth of a much more assertive working-class art that's not willing to be 'folk art' anymore, not willing to be passive anymore. It represents the intervention of the underclass at the level of mass culture.
Whether or not Goboy raises deeper sociological issues, he definitely raises cash. At the LA Art Fair the panhandling robot hauled in more money than some of the exhibitors. Garvey can be reached at Theatre Concrete: +1 (415) 621 4068.
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