Press
Westwood Living
Domenic Esposito, The unforeseen spokesman in the war against opioids
September 15th, 2022
Domenic seen working in his studio began sculpting 8 years ago.
Chronicle WCVB-5
Lifting the stigma of substance use disorder
April 7th, 2022
NEEDHAM, Mass. — City officials in Boston say bringing the drug crisis out of the shadows and clearing up misconceptions is vital for progress. It is, they say, crucial to relieving suffering. Domenic Esposito, artist and activist, says his brother has suffered from substance use disorder, and Esposito’s artwork is an outlet for his pain.
Fifty Plus Advocate
Artist/activist Domenic Esposito draws attention to opioid crisis
February 4th, 2022
WESTWOOD – Artist and activist Domenic Esposito of Westwood developed a personal concern for the opioid crisis because his younger brother Danny battles substance use disorder (SUD).
The Huntington News
NU alum uses art for advocacy at local gallery
February 2nd, 2022
In Domenic Esposito’s exhibit, a faceless, hooded figure looms in each piece. In one painting, a wall of hoods face forward. In another, a series of them approach the foreground until a bronze statue breaks through the canvas.
The Boston Globe
Mass. and Cass, cast in bronze and on canvas
January 6th, 2022
For artist and activist Domenic Esposito, the ravages of the opioid epidemic are personal and political.
The Forward
New Hulu series ‘Dopesick’ reveals the evils of the Sackler family, but hides the real fight
November 6th, 2021
The cast of “Dopesick,” a new Hulu miniseries on the Sackler family and the fight to hold them accountable for the OxyContin-fuelled opioid epidemic.
Community Advocate
Overdose Awareness Vigil adds Narcan training, activist/artist to lineup
August 25th, 2021
MARLBOROUGH – The 2021 Opioid Overdose Awareness Vigil scheduled to take place outside Marlborough’s Walker Building on Aug. 31 has added free Narcan training and an appearance by artist Domenic Esposito to its lineup.
NBC New York
Art Against Opioids
November 9th, 2019
Artist Domenic Esposito is known for his giant sculptures, particularly his massive opioid spoons that he places in front of drug companies he blames for the opioid crisis.
artnet
Editors’ Picks: 18 Things Not to Miss in New York’s Art World This Week
November 4th, 2019
See the famous Opioid Spoon and hear artist/creator Domenic Esposito talk with Mountainside director of community development Dan Smith about how art, activism, and recovery intersect to achieve awareness about the opioid crisis.
The Daily Free Press
Giant Spoon at the GSU Sheds a Light On The Opioid Epidemic
October 10th, 2019
A giant spoon lays on the sidewalk — bent, twisted and blackened. Within it, a pool of brown, tar-like residue is visible. At a length of 10 feet and weighing more than 800 pounds, a giant heroin spoon sculpture titled the “FDA Spoon” will be placed in front of the George Sherman Union from Oct. 10 to 25.
BU TODAY
Sculptor Domenic Esposito’s FDA Spoon Comes to Boston University
October 9th, 2019
Artist and activist Domenic Esposito had become sad and frustrated over his brother’s opioid drug addiction and angry about the profit motive that has led to the nation’s opioid crisis. In response, two years ago he began sculpting a series of giant versions of the burnt spoon in many addicts’ toolkit to bring awareness to the epidemic and hold those pharmaceutical companies manufacturing the drugs accountable.
Patch
800-Pound Opioid Spoon Dropped At Johnson & Johnson’s HQ
September 19th, 2019
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — A Boston-based artist placed an 800-pound opioid spoon outside the front entrance to Johnson & Johnson’s world headquarters in New Brunswick on Wednesday. Anyone trying to enter J&J’s office building had to walk around the giant metal spoon, etched with the initials “J&J” on its handle.
NJ.com
Protestor dropped an 800-pound opioid spoon in front of the Johnson & Johnson HQ
September 19th, 2019
New Brunswick — An 800-pound opioid cooking spoon delivered to the front door gets your attention.
Activist and artist Dominic Esposito brought the oversized spoon to pharmaceutical giant Johnson and Johnson’s New Jersey campus Wednesday as a way to protest prescription drugs’ role in the opioid epidemic.
TapInto NJ
Artist/activist Places 800-pound Opioid Spoon at J&J Headquarters
September 19th, 2019
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – When Domenic Esposito’s youngest brother was in the throes of addiction, the family would find burnt spoons – the tale tell sign that he had been doing drugs – scattered around the house.
Esposito’s heart broke each time they found one.
So the artist-turned-activist picked an oversized spoon with cooked opioid as a symbol of protest.
fox 29
Opioid Spoon Project comes to Philadelphia to raise awareness of Opioid Crisis
June 8th, 2019
PHILADELPHIA - A giant, 800-pound opioid spoon sculpture will be in Philadelphia Saturday as part of a tour to memorialize those who have lost their fight against opioid addiction.
Project founder and sculptor, Domenic Esposito, is has toured the east coast with the sculpture to give individuals a chance to sign the spoon in honor of those who have struggled with opioid addiction.
Concord Monitor
Families who have lost loved ones to addiction invited to sign giant spoon
May 16th, 2019
A spoon is more than just a piece of silverware for someone with a loved one battling heroin addiction.
Those people know what it’s like to open empty kitchen drawers and immediately worry, Boston artist Domenic Esposito said. They know the sinking feeling of finding their missing spoons burned and bent around the house.
le monde
The Sacklers – Friends of Art and Masters of Opioids
April 6th, 2019
La cuillère a le fond calciné, et son manche est retourné pour lui donner plus de stabilité. Comme celles utilisées par les toxicomanes qui font fondre leur drogue. Sauf que l’ustensile pèse… près de 360 kg. Le 22 juin 2018, il bloquait l’entrée du siège de Purdue Pharma, à Stamford (Connecticut). La firme, propriété de la famille Sackler, produit l’OxyContin, puissant antidouleur fabriqué à partir de morphine de synthèse.
Stat News
Protesters’ goodbye for Scott Gottlieb: a supersized heroin spoon and claims FDA did too little on opioids
April 5th, 2019
WASHINGTON — Activists on Friday delivered a parting gift to Scott Gottlieb, the outgoing Food and Drug Administration commissioner, at the entrance of a federal building here: an 800-pound, supersized heroin spoon stamped with the FDA’s logo.
New York Post
Artist put heroin spoon sculpture near pharma building as protest
August 27, 2018
A judge has ruled that the artist who helped place a steel sculpture of a bent drug spoon at Purdue Pharma’s Connecticut headquarters can get the artwork back.
Time Magazine
A Gallery Owner Was Arrested After Leaving a 10-Foot Heroin Spoon Sculpture Outside OxyContin Maker Purdue Pharma
June 24, 2018
A Connecticut gallery owner was arrested after dropping a 10-foot-long sculpture of a heroin spoon in front of Purdue Pharma’s headquarters on Friday
Hyperallergic
Artists and Drug Policy Activists Protest FDA’s Role in Opioid Crisis
April 8th, 2019
Nan Goldin was among the artist-activists who gathered in Washington, DC to demand the FDA address the “public health impact of the opioid crisis.”
WBUR 90.9
‘It’s Corporate Greed’: Activists Turn To Art To Protest Big Pharma And Opioid Epidemic
February 5th, 2019
Big Pharma is under pressure from hundreds of lawsuits attempting to bring those allegedly responsible for the nationwide opioid crisis to justice. Every day in the U.S., more than 130 people die from an opioid overdose.
FRIEZE
Gallerist Who Placed ‘Heroin Spoon’ Protest Sculpture Outside Purdue Pharma Avoids Jail Time
September 18, 2018
Fernando Alvarez was arrested in June for leaving a 300-kilogramme steel artwork outside Purdue’s headquarters.
Providence Journal
Artful protest: Sculptor delivers 800-pound spoon to R.I. opioid maker
February 7th, 2019
COVENTRY — Rhodes Pharmaceuticals is a sinister drugmaker that most Rhode Islanders have never heard of, contends Domenic Esposito. On Thursday, the sculptor from Westwood, Massachusetts, set off to change that with a spoonful offering of public shaming.
But it was no ordinary spoon.
The Harvard Crimson
Activists Call on Harvard to Strip Art Museum of Sackler Name
January 21, 2019
Local activists and at least one public official are calling on Harvard to remove the Sackler family’s name from its buildings after a memorandum filed in federal court Tuesday alleged the family knowingly understated the risks of its company’s addictive opioid product.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura T. Healey ’92 submitted the 274-page court filing as part of a lawsuit the state brought against Purdue Pharma — the Connecticut-based pharmaceutical company that produces the painkiller OxyContin — in June 2018.
Artsy
A giant heroin spoon was given to the Massachusetts Attorney General in honor of her work on the opioid crisis.
October 30, 2018
For more than a decade, Danny Esposito has been struggling with opioid addiction.
“My mom would call me in a panic… screaming she found another burnt spoon,” his brother, sculptor Domenic Esposito, told the Hartford Courant. “This is a story thousands of families go through. He’s lucky to be alive.” Many aren’t as lucky: Each day in the U.S., more than 115 people die after overdosing on opioids.
WBUR 90.9
Artists including Nan Goldin Seek Justice For Opioid Victims, Want To Strip Sackler Name From Museums
January 18th, 2019
At a major conference in Boston today, organized by artist Domenic Esposito, representatives from 32 organisations nationwide discuss the involvement of Purdue Pharma owners and ‘philanthropists’, The Sackler Family’s, impact on National Opioid Epidemic.
Vice
Artists Are Occupying Museums to Protest Big Pharma
October 24, 2018
The Sackler family name is all over the art world, but they made their billions pushing opiates. These artists have had enough.
Hyperallergic
Artist Drops 800-Pound Heroin Spoon Outside OxyContin Manufacturer’s Headquarters
June 26, 2018
Artist Domenic Esposito and gallerist Fernando Luis Alvarez delivered the giant sculpture to the doorstep of drugmaker Purdue Pharma.
The New York Times
Large-Scale Art Protest Outside OxyContin Maker Ends in Arrest
June 22, 2018
The sculpture, about 10 feet long and weighing some 700 pounds, is a huge depiction of the sort of spoon addicts use to cook Heroin before injecting it.
ARTFORUM
Protest at Purdue Pharma Headquarters leads to Gallery owner’s arrest
June 25, 2018
Fernando Luis Alvarez, the owner of an eponymous gallery in Stamford, Connecticut, was arrested for installing an eight-hundred-pound steel sculpture of a burnt heroin spoon in front of the headquarters of Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of the highly addictive painkiller OxyContin, on Friday, June 22.
USA Today
Drug spoon sculpture placed outside drugmaker Purdue Pharma headquarters
June 23, 2018
STAMFORD, Conn. — An 800-pound, nearly 11-foot-long steel sculpture of a bent and burned drug spoon was placed Friday in front of the Connecticut headquarters of drugmaker Purdue Pharma as part of an art protest against the opioid crisis.
Artist Domenic Esposito and art gallery owner Fernando Alvarez dropped the sculpture at the company’s Stamford headquarters. Police arrested Alvarez on a minor charge of obstructing free passage. A city worker removed the spoon with a payloader and it was hauled to a police evidence holding area.
The Art Newspaper
Will museums stop accepting Sackler money in wake of Massachusetts lawsuit?
July 5, 2018
Theresa Sackler, one of the most generous arts philanthropists in the UK, is being sued by the state of Massachusetts, along with seven other family members and Purdue Pharma, the company they own and direct.
The Sacklers and their pharmaceutical firm, which produces and sells the highly addictive opioid OxyContin, stand accused of helping fuel the opioid epidemic which is devastating the US and has killed 11,000 people in Massachusetts in the past decade alone, according to the complaint filed by the state’s attorney general, Maura Healey, on 12 June.
NBC News
Drug spoon sculpture placed outside drugmaker Purdue Pharma’s headquarters
June 23, 2018
“We share the protesters’ concern about the opioid crisis, and respect their right to peacefully express themselves,” the company said in a statement.
Several state and local governments are suing Purdue Pharma for allegedly using deceptive marketing to boost sales of its opioid painkiller OxyContin, deceiving patients and doctors about the risks of opioids. The company has been blamed for helping fuel addiction and opioid overdose deaths.
Purdue Pharma denies the allegations in the lawsuits.