TWENTY YEARS LATER THE DEBATE CONTINUES...

For 25 years he functioned in the art world as the indispensable irritant - the ubiquitous nuisance by which all other artists redefined themselves, whether in disgust and disdain or with a certain wry astonishment. Sometimes his work was too silly even to think about, but there were many occasions on which the loudest noise you could hear in the gallery was that of the sawdust falling out of a familiar stuffed shirt. As to the meaning (or lack of meaning) of his work, every imaginable opinion has been held, expressed and defended. As to his personality, and as to his impact upon his times -there, too, all positions have been manned. There were those who never varied and saw him from start to finish as a self-promoting trickster, a pseudo-artist who corrupted the young, fouled the very notion of high art, manipulated the market, went along with the media and was triviality personified.

John Russell
New York Times
April 11 1988