WHOSE COAT IS THAT JACKET YOU'RE WEARING?

I recently read the headline

Hundreds of stolen coats released in controversial art installation

My interest was piqued as my favorite coat came to mind. There is something almost familial about a beloved coat--it keeps you warm during the coldest months of the year!

In the installation, Whose Coat is that Jacket You're Wearing?, artist Mike Ballard attempted to come to terms with the theft of his favorite coat. Over the past ten years, Ballard lifted men's outerwear from bars and pubs around London, cataloguing their contents, and storing them in his home, never to be worn or used. In his installation this fall, he will reveal the over 200 stolen coats, and return them to anyone who can identify where they were lost or their contents.

Ballard's installation is an extension of the use of "appropriation" in art, which usually means stealing ideas or images from other artists or disciplines (such as Richard Prince's cowboy photographs). Ballard has taken appropriation to the next level, displaying the cold-weather loot in the first exhibition of entirely stolen materials. Ballard clearly took Picasso's words to heart:

"Good artists copy, great artists steal."

The exhibition will be on view at Walker's Tailor in London from October 8-23, 2010.

Click here to read the full press release. My pink fur-trimmed coat is by Julie Haus and it is the only way I survive the winter!

EDIT--

Apparently artist Mike Ballard swiped this idea from "John the Jacket Man". Check out the original radio interview here. This just keeps getting better!