2005-08-18 - 12:30 a.m.

and now, i contribute a lengthy quotation from one of my favorite artists, brazilian genius and fellow williamsburg resident vik muniz.

from his recently published monograph, reflex: a vik muniz primer

A fortunate event that contributed to my decision to move to the United States was my being shot in the leg. One night, after leaving a social event, I witnessed a fight between two men, one of whom was beating the other violently with brass knuckles. I got out of my car and helped separate the victim from his assailant, who ran away. Walking back to my car, I heard a great explosion and suddenly I was on the floor, crawling for my life. The victim, incapable of clear judgement, had opened his car door, reached for his gun, and unloaded the entire barrel in the direction of the first person he saw wearing dark clothes. That person was me. Luckily, the shot wasn't fatal. And even more luckily, the gunman was a rich man. Begging me not to press charges, he offered me a reasonable sum of money. I used it to buy a plane ticket to Chicago in 1983. Without that bullet, this book would not exist.