I bought it at prisonart.org where it was described at “Hand crafted Folsom prison cell made with popsicle sticks, craft sticks, felt, glue, etc. and with tools like tweezers, toe nail clippers, and razor blades.” SOLD! It was $46 with shipping, and signed on the back by George Bubier (currently serving at Folsom) as “Made by a Lifer 12/26/06.”

The version pictured on the site had a sliding cell door that could open, I liked that detail, I planned to leave the door open. But my version is sealed, which makes it way creepier (suggesting a new pessimism by the prisoner? He is serving life.). I expected something cute to put on my desk but immediately realized I don’t want to stare at prison walls (real or miniature) all day. And then I wondered if it wasn’t the artist’s way of sharing his sentence with others, “They can stare at the same cramped space I have to.” Or maybe having people like me pay to have a recreation of his space makes living in the original a little less undesirable. Or maybe it’s simply the only thing he could think to make. I’ll see how it goes. Someone may be receiving this as a gift very soon. I’d rather stare at those rainbow roses.

UPDATE: It’s been over a week and I’ve gotten used to it. I guess it stays.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 at 12:58 pm and is filed under Crafty, Art/Art-like. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.