The "Statue Assassin" is a series that represents an imaginary event played out with a toy surrogate. The image documents a piece of performance art depicting the shooting of a complete stranger on the streets of New York City. The act that occurs really exists in ones mind. How many times have we seen people use their index finger and thumb as a gun as a joke or a warning. The image is also a color photograph. In 1976 color photography was not considered art by 99% of the art community. br Robert Funk is a pioneer of toy, doll, miniature, plastic thingies and staged photography. He also photographs his own paintings. Most of his work is done on location. He does not use photoshop to strip in images. He doesn’t take photographs he creates photographs and has works dating from 1973. He was widely published in the 1970's and early 1980's. As an undergrad in painting, he studied with first-generation abstract expressionist Robert Richenburg and hyper-realist painter Janet Fish and then in Graduate School for Art History with famed critic E.C. Goossen. He went on to work as a Photographer, New York Advertising Art Director for Print and TV, and an Art Collector.