Last October, Scott Campbell, the Brooklyn-based tattoo artist-turned-fine artist, arrived in Mexico for the opening of his solo show to find a vodka company’s logo plastered all over the gallery; he had agreed to only a small logo.
“Essentially, I had some issues,” he told Interview, “and when I confronted [the show’s organizer] with these issues in what I felt was a productive way, he came back with a personal attack.”
Campbell said he tried to rectify the situation, but when he realized they were at an impasse, he decided, “No one makes any money.” He lit a gasoline-fueled fire outside of the gallery and proceeded to throw all of his work — which sold out on opening night — into it.
It was a defining moment in his nascent career. But it came and went faster than the gallery in Mexico could extinguish the flames (and then sell the pieces for top dollar as “artist-intervened” works).
