Okay, I get it.  Performance art is meant to be experimental.  There are no rules or guidelines.  It is art because the artist says it's art.

 

Now meet Otis Houston, Jr., aka "Black Cherokee"...and yes, he really is part Cherokee.

 

 

Otis has been doing this shtick in one form or another for over a decade in NYC, but just recently relocated to midtown after becoming a long-time fixture along the FDR Drive--a couple of blocks from his Harlem home--where he entertained passing motorists during the morning rush hour.

 

Black Cherokee came to NYC from South Carolina in 1969, immersed himself in the drug scene of the 70's and 80's and eventually landed in prison, which is where an art class inspired him to eventually become a "performance artist." 

 

Gotta give some props to anyone who spends the day with an orange jammed in his mouth, but if it's a fruit and art combo that I desire, give me a painting by Monet any day...

 

Eating On The Job