Portrait of the Artist

"He has never been interviewed. He refused to meet me in person, talk on the phone, or sit still for this profile. He has never made a film or a painting, nor has he written a poem, taken a picture, or tried to "make" anything. Despite all this, he has fascinated the art world and captivated New York society for the past year."

"Every day, he puts on his "uniform": moccasins, tuxedo pants, one of a variety of pajama tops designed especially for him by L. L. Bean, and his signature duck-billed hockey mask. He wears the same pair of underwear for a month, then puts on a fresh pair over the old pair, until he has twelve pairs on, at which point he knows that New Year's Eve is right around the corner."

He has never granted interviews or in-person meetings and refuses phone contact. He has not produced films, paintings, poems, photographs, or other traditional creative works, yet he has become a focus of art-world attention and New York society. Magazines deliver contradictory praise and inflated scores. He follows exacting routines: waking at 7:43 A.M., catnapping, and sleeping at three A.M. He wears a fixed "uniform"—moccasins, tuxedo pants, L. L. Bean pajama tops, and a duck-billed hockey mask—layers underwear monthly to twelve pairs, and eats a peculiar microwaved lunch of bunless hot dogs, lemon pie, and Yoo-hoo.

Read at The New Yorker