Welded steel, 79 x 17 x 16, 2008.
The Customs Agent is a welded steel portrait bust that explores the layered meanings of authority, labor, and interpretation within art. By titling the work after a bureaucratic figure, the piece engages a dual reading: it references the historical role of customs officers while also playing with the idea of art itself as an “agent” that regulates, inspects, and mediates cultural “goods”—ideas, images, and experiences—between creator and viewer.
As an overt admirer of Clement Greenberg, McCourt situates this work within a modernist discourse that values form, materiality, and the critical encounter between object and audience. The Customs Agent is simultaneously a homage to historical figures who navigated the intersections of labor and intellect, and a commentary on art’s capacity to inspect, classify, and challenge the conventions of its own reception.
Ryan McCourt 