The Paul Pierce Collection The Paul Pierce Collection was born from piles of clothing left behind in the Green Point warehouse terminal market, which abandoned in the mid 1980s. In 1999, a squatter named RA discovered the endless piles of clothing and began refurbishing and selling them wholesale to vintage clothing stores around Williamsburg and the East Village under the auspices of Paul Pierce Vintage. By 2004 Paul Pierce had grown into an operation that employed and housed 16 other non-domiciled people. They eventually occupied a retail store in Williamsburg and began expanding their inventory to include "legitimate" merchandise. The warehouse was recently destroyed by massive fires of undetermined causes - displacing the squatters that occupied the space. Inspired by the true story of RA's entrepreneurial efforts, the installation is an embellished realization of unwrought potential, and a multi-layered commentary on the art and fashion worlds, gentrification and the changing topography of New York City. It explores absurdity of motives such as a Paul Pierce designer intentionally setting fire to launch a new, trendy burnt look. Play on the questionable investigation into the fires. All of the clothing used in the installation was recovered from the fire. The cast of the video is made up entirely of the squatters who once occupied the building. All of the clothing from the installation is available for sale, with the proceeds going to the squatters who were displaced by the fire. WATCH VIDEO The Installation To view large images, just click one of the thumbnails below. Recovering The Clothes To view large images, just click one of the thumbnails below. A meeting with Ra, the former CEO of Paul Pierce. Some of the clothes before the fire. The warehouse was guarded during the arson investigation. You could still see some of the burnt clothes from the street. The only way to access the warehouse was by water. So I rowed dow the river at night. Stashed the boat... ...and snuck in from the back. The place looked like a war zone. All night long I combed through the piles. Hoping not to waake the guard. I decided to keep this one for myself. I found some cool fabric with the constitution printed on it. I went back several times with friends. We bagged up the clothes and rowed them back up the river. My friend, Jude Hughes helped me removed the burnt beams from the warehouse. It was a real dirty job. The giant beams were made from American Chestnut. Now extinct. I used them to make shelves for clothing and a cat walk.