New York artist stuck on tape-and-ink design
HOWIE RUMBERG; The Associated Press
Published: October 2nd, 2005 12:01 AM

Danny O is deft at stumbling upon things.
Take his stint in the Navy as a cartoonist, or his world-record collection of more than 20,000 found balls – “they just come to me”: all happenstance. But perhaps Danny O’s most significant “Oh my!” moment came when he discovered that he could use Scotch tape to lift ink off a page and transfer it to another canvas.

The collage artist, scavenger and recycler of pop culture built a big part of his career using this unique technique and was recently signed on as spokesman for the 75th anniversary of the 3M brand Scotch tape.

We talked to Danny O at the Museum of Cartoon and Comic Art in New York, where his show “Archie Virtue,” a collection of works made out of tape and ink from old Archie comics, is up.

Why is Archie the comic of choice?

For one, it’s an icon in itself, but deconstructing the icon, I like that. “Batman” is too realistic, everything is drawn. The Archies has this very jovial line work. … A friend of mine, this guy Scooter, turned me on to the Archies comics, and now he gets me the vintage 30-year-old comics because the inks lift so well.

Why tape?

Once you start it, it’s very hypnotic. As you’re doing it, people fall in love with this technique. … It’s really easy to do, but it’s a natural, fun technique. And I like the fact that you can go anywhere and get a roll of Scotch tape in the city at any hour of the day.

What makes it so mesmerizing to work with the tape?

The hunt for the right line and how things click together, and taking it out of one context and putting it into another one and how it makes more sense in the new one to me is a pop harvest.