This is one of a set of six paper cups which were designed for Imprint, a public art project organised by the Print Center, Philadelphia, in 2002. Artists were invited to produce imagery for billboards, bus shelters and magazine inserts, as well as cups. Here the throw-away paper cup, which was used in selected cafes in the city during the project, is transformed by print into a modest work of art.

While some of the imagery reflects the artists' characteristic concerns (for example Dottie Attie's contributions related to feminism and issues of male domination, and Virgil Marti explored the impact of decoration and beauty in public spaces), other artists used this opportunity to look more closely the power of public advertising. For example James Mills' use of the repeated words 'blah/blah/blah' was designed to provoke questions about the insidious methods by which advertisers attract us and manipulate our thinking but it also demonstrates that advertising becomes repetitive and invisible unless it resorts to shock tactics.