Eddie Colla It’s Only Stealing if You Get Caught Art Print 2013 COA
“Initially I felt good that with this image I had created something that seemed relevant to people. My second thought was something along the lines of Shit, why do so many people feel subjugated in our society. I think I was just surprised at the number and types of people who gravitated to it.
I made a piece about individuals controlling their own fate and not making their success contingent on the approval of others. It then gets adopted by a neo-feudal corporation like Walmart. A corporation whose employment practices have created a 2 million person underclass in this country. That’s where this becomes an issue of conviction. Walmart waves American Flags, kowtows to a hypocritical right wing Christian ideology but that’s merely a marketing strategy. If Walmart actually believed in any part of that ridiculous rhetoric they would certainly never put work by an artist like me in their stores.” – Eddie Colla