In the late 1980s and early 90s the double Grammy award-winning artist currently known as Beck and his grandfather, the Happenings artist Al Hansen, each produced a series of riveting collages, establishing a path for Beck’s process art. Playing With Matches is the first publication to provide an overview of their mixed media works, the myriad sources that informed these works and the shared values and impulses that bridge their generations. There is a strong and obvious symbiosis in these that led to this Plug In project, a joint publication and exhibition.

“In the late 20th century of high-tech communications and multinational economics, the image of the wandering artist, the hobo avantgardist, seems anachronistic, if not self-conscious. Yet, Al Hansen cultivated the role—that’s what it was—with great style and charm.” —Allan Kaprow