From 1977 to 1981, as an outcome of the sidewalk series, I worked with more and more real texture, including asphalt siding from houses. I based the work on an underlying geometry to keep the work evolving abstractly. To use Red Grooms' term: my paintings were becoming more and more "stick-out", as I explored ways of thickening and building up the acrylic paint.

In 1977, I also began graduate study at Hunter College. My first teacher there, was Ralph Humphrey whose color and dense textured painting I had admired for years. In the Summer of 1981, I had a flash of an idea: I would do color studies in layers of thick textured color–like Ralph Humphrey's paintings, only on glove shapes cut from cardboard–Cardboard? Why not gesso real work gloves and build up color on them.

When I showed the series "Blue Squares" later that year at 55 Mercer Gallery, I included two of these work glove color studies–which I nick-named, "The Hands of Ralph Humphrey". The idea evolved into color layers mapping different activities (work) that the gloves had been involved in. I was invited by Arnette deMille to do something at Fashion Moda in the South Bronx at the beginning of 1982.

I was also teaching a course in something that I hadn't done before: "Multi-Media (anything but painting, was the course description). Sometime earlier, I had showed some of the "work glove" color studies to Ivan Karp at O.K. Harris Gallery. His response was: "Strange fixation". It all made sense! I would do my first multi-media piece as a site specific installation, using "work gloves" to shape the space at at Fashion Moda. I made up a flyer and called my installation, "Strange Fixation". The real energy of the 1980's was epitomized by the art center that Stefan Einz had created in the South Bronx–Fashion Moda.