Description

Back in the In1950s, 60s, and 70s, there was a standing joke, if you needed a Cop, call the Donut Shop. Police gathering at the donut shop was a noticeable phenomenon, so it became the subject this painting. Perhaps the best example was the Wenchells Donut Shop in Reseda, California, where on occasion there were so many police cars, it seemed like a police substation, and that struck me as funny, so the painting was on.

It was first published as a limited edition print where it gained a kind of cult following, and it was popular with the police as well. It was then printed as a poster to celebrate 1976 Bicentennial, but it was printed out of register on cheap paper and Bicentennial was spelled incorrectly. A number of years later a police officer friend of mine asked me while at the local cruise night, how my clocks were selling down at the Police Academy. Apparently someone had stole Image and was selling clocks with tis painting on it. So I went down there to investigate, took a witness, and bought a couple of samples as evidence. When I confronted them, they got nasty, and the manager left treating phone calls on my message machine. It was an interesting situation, the police breaking the law. My art work had been gleaning a lot of press back then, and a major new paper wanted to run a front page article on it, but I knew there was only one or two people involved, not the entire police department. But, I still had to file suite to put an end to it. Oddly, I had just republished the the work and the police academy could have purchased some legitimate prints to sell, for far less than the cheesy clocks.

It’s not everyone who works hard all week, and has someone else receives their pay check, but that’s what this kind of thing amounts to. Today there are new thieves to sue on the internet. While the police, and others still enjoy the light hearted painting.